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BETTY PEACH, 


— A . — 


T ale of Colonial Days, 

%~s' 


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BY 

DEVEREUX. 




MERRILL H. GRAVES, 

PUBLISHER, 

in Washington St., Marblehead. 
1896. 




N. ALLEN LINDSEY & CO., 
Printers and Publishers, 
MARBLEHEAD. 


Copyright 1695 

Merrill l/ Grave?. 








TO MY GRANDFATHER, 

CAPTAIN JOHN DEVEREUX, 

OF MARBLEHEAD, 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 


IN LOVING MEMORY 





BETTY PEACH. 


CHAPTER I. 

On a strip of white sand, under the sea-wall, 
which, located and partially constructed by na- 
ture, whose handiwork appeared in huge bul- 
warks of rock-piles, had been brought to com- 
pletion by the rude skill of man, a rowboat was 
beached. 

Half leaning, half sitting upon it, was a young 
man of stalwart build, who seemed the very em- 
bodiment of robust health and vigor ; and near 
him was a girl, apparently much younger than 
himself, who stood with uncovered head, swing- 
ing her hat by its pink ribbons. They were 
talking together, and the man’s attitude and ex- 


6 


BETTY PEACH. 


pression bespoke great earnestness, and as though 
the subject of their conversation was, to him, a 
matter of vast moment. 

She was a dimpled, rounded little body, not 
taller than the average girl of fourteen, although 
the family Bible on her Grandfather’s table bore 
witness to the fact that on a certain May day, 
seventeen years before, was born Bethia Peach. 

The young man was saying to her, in a tone 
full of entreaty, “Won’t ye tell me why ye sent 
me back the coral pin I brought last trip, Betty ? 
Just as I sailed, too, an’ so could say nothing.” 

She stirred the sand and pebbles with the tip 
of her small, steel-buckled shoe, but was de- 
murely silent ; and the thought shot through 
Dan Marr’s brain of how distractingly pretty she 
was, as she stood there with all those big loose 
rings of dark hair over her low sweet brow, and 
the curling lashes of her downcast eyes looking 
blacker by contrast, as they seemed resting on 
her peachy cheeks. 

“ Betty ! ” he exclaimed, almost sternly ; and 
he stretched out his strong brown hand, as if to 
emphasize, by a touch on one of the round, white 
arms the pink sleeves left partly bared, the au- 
thority now sounding in his tone. 


BETTY PEACH. 


7 


But the girl stepped back a pace, eluding his 
grasp, and her big soft eyes flashed a little as she 
raised them to his. 

“ Give me the basket o’ eggs from the boat, 
will ye please, an’ let me go,” was all she said ; 
then adding, “ Grand’ther will be wondering 
where I am.” 

“ I don’t believe ye’d act so, my girl, an’ ye 
know how cruel ye seem, an’ how ye make my 
heart ache,” he sighed heavily as he spoke but 
made no movement to reach the basket. 

“ I am sure I cannot help what I may seem. 
An’ ye’d let old Bijah row me home, ye’d have 
had no heart ache to talk ’bout,” and there was 
something suggestive of a pout in the tone of 
her voice, as also in the expression of the red 
lips through which it issued. 

“ Wouldn’t I ? Much ye know ’bout it. Why 
I’ve had nothing but heart achings e’er since Bil- 
ly brought me the package from ye. An’ I 
thought ( more fool I, for it ) ’twas some last 
parting word, such as I was hungering for, such as 
I’d have sent, an’ I could, to ye. An’ after we’d got 
under way, I went to my cabin to see what ye’d 
sent me, there lay the coral pin I’d given ye just 
the day before, down in Echo Cove. An’ I’d 


:8 


BETTY PEACH. 


thought ye loved me, that day.” His voice 
broke mournfully, and he stared off into the dis- 
tance with moody eyes. 

“ I never told ye such a thing ! ” she exclaimed, 
her color deepening. 

The young man’s dark gray eyes came back 
from their abstraction, and rested upon her sweet 
face, and a world of tenderness softened them as 
he said, in a tone which his deep, strong voice 
made as a caress, “No, ye didn’t tell me, Betty, 
but ye let me kiss ye that afternoon. ” 

“ Aren’t ye fine, to throw it at me now ? ” she 
interrupted, her voice sounding as though tears 
were not far away. But he went on, “ An’ then, 
that night at Polly Holcombe’s dance, ye’d scarce- 
ly speak to me. Ye seemed to be happier with 
that cursed English scoundrel.” 

“Captain Rathborn’s a gentleman, an’ no 
scoundrel. Perhaps an’ he were asked his opin- 
ion, he might say the coat fitted some other folk 
best.” 

Dan set his teeth and scowled murderously, 
as, leaning forward, he said, “ An’ ye mean by that 
he’s watching for chance to bring the officers o’ 
the Crown down from Boston after us, for smug- 
gling, your Grandfather’d have the better chance, I 


BETTY PEACH. 


9 


trow, o’ letting Captain put the name ‘ scoundrel’ 
across his door.” 

Betty chanced to glance over her shoulder 
while Dan was speaking, and she saw the old 
adage verified, for there of a surety was her 
Grandfather not very far away, and it was evi- 
dent from his manner that his keen old eyes had 
observed them. 

“ There goes Grand’ther now ! ” she exclaimed, 
in a tone of alarm, and she advanced toward the 
boat as though to take her basket. 

“ Yes,” said Dan, in a tone almost of contempt, 
and making no move toward giving her the bas- 
ket. “ There he goes, an’ he be for all the world 
like a frightened jack-snipe, with his long nose, 
an’ his coat tails flying, looking back at us.” 

“Looking?” she repeated nervously, keeping 
her eyes fixed on her lover’s face, while her back 
was turned toward her relative ; and her agitation 
was such that she failed to take notice of Dan’s 
sarcastic comparison. 

u Yes, he be looking ; an’ why should ye be so 
troubled o’er it?” The young man was now 
standing erect, and, as he spoke, he came up 
closely to the girl. 

“ He has forbidden me to speak with ye alone.” 


IO 


BETTY PEACH. 


She dropped her eyes, and began nervously to 
stir the sand again with her shoe tip. 

u He has ? An’ why ? ” Dan demanded, almost 
angrily. 

“ I don’t know,” the girl replied, with still 
greater agitation. 

“ Well, I know ! ” the young man exclaimed, 
hotly. “ I know ! ” he repeated. “ He wants ye 
to marry that d — d Englishman ! ” 

“ Dan ! How dare ye? ” Betty’s voice was full 
of indignation, and she drew herself up to the 
extreme limit of her small stature. 

“ Yes, he does,” Dan said, with dogged insist- 
ence. “ I tell ye I’ve heard the talk more than 
once since I came back.” 

u What talk ? ” the girl demanded, angrily. 
“ Who dares to talk o’ me in that way ? ” 

“ ’Twas at the Pine Tree,” Dan replied, a little 
more calmly, and seemingly pleased at her dis- 
play of indignation. “ I heard it the first night 
I was ashore, o’ how much Captain Rathborn 
came down to the town now, an’ how thick he 
an’ your Grandfather seemed to be. An’ they 
all said ’twas plain to see ’twas ye he was after, 
an’ that ye’re Grandfather had said he would 
give ye to him some day.” 


BETTY PEACH. 


II 


“ Just as if I were a piece o’ land or a cow ! ” 
Betty cried, her white, round chin tip-tilted with 
indignation, as she raised her little head still 
higher, and stamped her foot angrily. Dan, 
meanwhile, was gazing at her as though he 
found, in her flashing eyes and flushed cheeks, 
new food for his admiration. But she recalled 
him to his senses by adding, with a touch of 
scorn in her voice, “An’ weren’t ye a good friend, 
ye’re first night ashore, to go to a tavern an’ sit 
talking o’ me in such fashion, with a parcel o’ 
brawlers an’ empty-pates ? ” 

“ I did no such thing, Betty, an’ ye know well 
I wouldn’t,” he replied, earnestly. “ I had met 
Goody Fletcher crying that her uncle had been 
since early evening at the Pine Tree, an’ I went to 
get him home. Ye know he will drink too much. 
There was never more reckless fool, when carry- 
ing too much grog, than old Dick Hadley, to say 
naught o’ the way he spends money not his own 
at such times, an’ so gets poor Goody into trouble 
with her husband, for countenancing him ’bout 
the place.” 

Betty’s eyes, looking straight into his own 
pleading ones, had grown somewhat softer, as 
had also the tone of her voice, as she asked, “ An’ 
where beside have ye heard such talk ? ” 


12 


BETTY PEACH. 


“Nancy Harris told me that the Captain 
brought ye fine scarlet cloth from Boston for a 
new cloak last winter,” the young man answered. 
u An’ she said he’d been to Meeting-house with, 
ye more than once.” 

At sound of the other girl’s name, Betty’s red 
mouth grew narrow, and her eyes were now 
sparkling with anger again. 

“ Since Mistress Harris knows so much,” she 
exclaimed, “it is great pity ye had not consulted 
her ’bout the coral pin. Try ye an’ see an she 
cannot cure ye’re ‘ heart aches’.” 

This suggestion so angered Dan that he gave 
utterance to expletives in which he referred to 
Miss Nancy in language more forcible than po- 
lite ; at which the girl, seeming rather to enjoy 
his discomfiture, added, in the same taunting 
tone, “ Aye, say ye so o’ her now? So more like- 
ly, when next ye see her, ye may say to her o’ 
me. Ye seemed to find no one else worth talk- 
ing to or dancing with the night at Polly Hol- 
combe’s, which ye’ve just been mentioning.” 

“Ye know well I danced with her because I 
couldn’t get ye,” the young man exclaimed, hotly. 

“ I found ye laughing an’ dancing with her 
an I came,” she retorted, with equal asperity. 


bktty peach. 


13 


“ ’Twas she asked me,” he began, and then 
stopped short, and looked foolish, as if regretting 
having been betrayed into such an ungallant 
speech. The girl seemed not to be of his mind, 
however, or, if she was, did not show it, as she 
went on, rather eagerly, u I was late, an’ ye know 
I had to be late, Dan ; that I had to wait ’til 
Grand’ther had gone to his meeting. He will 
never favor my going to a dance.” 

“ An’ did ye send the coral pin back next day 
because o’ thinking I cared for Nancy?” He 
spoke with feverish eagerness, as he possessed 
himself of her little hand, and held it close in 
both his own. 

The girl stood with drooped lids, no longer 
swinging her broad white hat ; and she made no 
reply. 

“Betty,” he whispered, and there was some- 
thing in his tone and manner which she had nev- 
er seen before, “ Don’t ye know ye have all the 
love my heart can hold, that there be no sound- 
ing the depth o’ it for ye, my own sweet little 
maid ? ” 

She looked up at him now, and the dark eyes 
were brimming. 

“ Betty, Betty, Sweetheart,” he murmured ten- 


H 


BETTY PEACH. 


derly, bending over her. But as if fearful of 
what might follow, she snatched her hand away, 
and started back exclaiming, “No, no, say no 
more ! Not here, not now ! ” 

“ Will ye come up to old fort on the hill to- 
morrow night at eight? ” he asked, and an expres- 
sion of hope and happiness lighted up his honest 
face. 

Betty hesitated. “ Say ye will,” the young 
man pleaded. “ Betty, my own sweet little maid, 
say ye will. I have so much to tell ; I have to 
tell ye I am no longer mate o’ the ‘ Jason.’ I’ve 
bought a little craft o’ my own, an’ so I’ve done 
with smuggling, I tell ye.” 

At this, a bright smile broke over her face, 
showing her white, little teeth between the scar- 
let of her lips, and making a roguish dimple in 
each soft round cheek. 

“Oh, Dan, I am glad,” she said looking up 
into his face. 

“ Are ye? ” he said, smiling down at her. “ I 
hoped ye’d be. Ye see I could not believe ye’d 
done with me, though ye did send back the coral 
pin. An’ I wanted to be my own master for 
ye’re sake, Betty ; an’ a master who runs foul o’ 
the King’s law, be sure, in the end, to run foul o’ 


BETTY PEACH. 


15 


something worse. An’ ye’ll have my neck for 
ye own, I won’t risk a rope collar getting twisted 
’bout it.” 

While he was speaking, Betty’s eyes had been 
dwelling upon the young man’s brown neck 
with a tender light stealing into them. 

“ Yes, I’ll come,” she said, softly, and glancing 
about as though fearful of unseen ears hearing 
too much. 

“ My own sweetheart ! ” he murmured, devour- 
ing her with his eyes, but not offering to touch 
her hand again, though he had drawn still closer 
to her. “ An’ may I bring a string o’ gold beads 
I got for ye in Genoa? ” he asked, anxiously. 

“ For me, a string of gold beads for me? ” she 
exclaimed, her eyes, in spite of her, alight with 
pleasure. 

“Yes, an’ I want ye to put them ’bout that 
sweet white throat, an’ say, ‘ this be the line that 
leads straight to Dan Marr’s heart,’ an’ the other 
end be made so taut only God Himself can 
break it. An’ whether I be at your side, or in 
China, all my dear little maid has to^do, when- 
ever she wants anything in my power to do or 
give, be it my life, or a ship’s biscuit, or aught 
that may lie between the two, she’s but to speak.” 


i6 


BETTY PEACH. 


“ Dan, do ye love me so much ? ” she asked, 
and her eyes filled again, and her voice was trem- 
ulous. 

“ So much, little maid. It will take ye all 
ye life ( an’ God grant it be a long one, with me), 
all o’ it ’twould take, for ye to find out how much. 
Perhaps not e’en then would ye know, not ’til we 
get o’er there.” 

A new light seemed to grow on Dan’s hand- 
some face as he spoke, as though from the reflec- 
tion of the spirit within ; and his eyes looked off, 
over Betty’s small dark head, to the sunset, where, 
amid the molten golden sea, there lay islands of 
tinted clouds, looking dreamy and calm as the 
beaches of the far-away Fortunate Isles. 


CHAPTER II. 


Less than half an hour after, Betty, sittings 
alone up in her dormer-windowed chamber, looked 
out upon the gloaming with a light upon her 
wistful little face that Dan’s fond eyes had never 
seen there. She was pondering deeply all that 
had been said, and once she laughed softly ; and 
then, as though ashamed of her own happiness v 
she covered her face with her hands. 

Outside, low down among the branches of the 
gnarled apple trees, there still came a yellow 
glimmer, and up in the southeast was set the 
sharply defined crescent of the harvest moon. 

By and by there came a gentle tap at her 
closed door, and the voice of old Cata, saying,. 
“ Does ye wish ter set de table dis night, fer tea, 
chile?” 

u No ! ” she replied, sharply, scarcely con- 
scious of what she was saying until the sound of 
her own voice startled her. Then, her kind heart 
smiting her, as she reminded herself of the old 


i8 


BETTY PEACH. 


cook’s day’s work, which had been harder than 
usual, she sprang to her feet, and sped down the 
winding stairs so quickly that she was with the 
negress before she had reached the floor below. 

“ Never mind, Precious, I kin do it,” said old 
Cata, feebly remonstrative, as she perceived her 
young mistress’ intent. 

“ That ye shall not ; go to the kitchen ! ” said 
Betty, imperiously ; and she proceeded herself to 
lay the dainty linen, woven so long ago by her 
dead mother’s girlish fingers. 

The dim light of candles burning in the two 
brass candlesticks, burnished until they shone 
like gold, revealed the other occupant of the 
room, a misshapen, humpbacked lad, sitting upon 
the settee by the stone hearth, directly under the 
light of one of the candles, and with a worn 
book open on his knees. 

The room was a long, low one, with oak panel- 
ings. Two high, red-curtained windows looked 
seaward, their deep, broad, oaken sills so wide 
and low as to serve for comfortable seats. The 
vines growing thickly outside, tapped occasionally 
upon the small, diamond shaped panes, for the 
air was grown chill, and the wind from the sea 
was rising. 


BETTY PEACH. 


J 9 


Pausing a moment as she bustled to and fro 
between the table and the mahogany sideboard, 
upon whose top shone glass and china, and as 
well from the now opened doors, Betty said, 
“Ye should not try to read any more to-night, 
Billy.” 

“ I am not reading.” The boy’s voice had an 
abstracted undertone which caught the girl’s 
attention, and she asked, as she came and stood 
by him, “ What be ye thinking o’, then ? 

He looked up at her, glanced at the open door, 
and then, lowering his tone, he said, “ Betty, did 
ye know Dan Marr was ashore? ” 

She blushed and moved away again, as she 
replied in equally low tones, “ Yes, I saw him.” 

“ Come here, Betty,” the boy now said with 
much earnestness, “ I want to tell ye somewhat. 
An hour back, I was up in the seat in the old 
chestnut tree at the foot o’ the garden. Peter 
Trower an’ Adam Powers came along the road, 
an’ stood by our wall, talking. They did not 
see me ; an’ I heard Adam say that Dan had 
bought a craft o’ his own, an’ he was going to turn 
traitor ; an’ he was to be done away with, afore 
he got chance to inform.” 

Betty’s eyes grew terrified, and her color paled, 


20 


BETTY PEACH. 


as she gripped the boy’s shoulder with a strength 
of which her small fingers seemed incapable. 

“ Oh, Bett, don’t pinch me so ; ye hurt ! ” he 
exclaimed, moving restlessly. She released him, 
and whispered, “ Go on, go on, tell me all they 
said, Billy.” 

“ I will ; but don’t ye pinch me so again. 
That was all they said ’bout Dan ; only Peter 
swore, I tell ye, an’ I looked down through the 
leaves an’ his face looked like murder. Then 
Adam went on to tell how he’d been up to Pine 
Tree with Grand’ther an’ Captain Rathborn, an’ 
they had told him.” 

“ Captain Rathborn ? Betty interrupted inter- 
rogatively. 

“ Yes,” Billy replied. “ The Captain’s here ; 
I saw them taking the horses out his coach this 
afternoon, when I was up in the Inn yard.” 

“ Well, go on,” the girl said, with a show of 
impatience. “ What else did ye hear ? ” 

“ Not much else, for then they went off 
together down road. Oh, Betty ! There’s 
Grand’ther now ! ” He ended abruptly, and in 
a somewhat terrified whisper, as a heavy footfall 
sounded on the stone step outside, and beat a 
liasty retreat kitchenward, while Betty resumed 
lier bustling. 


BETTY PEACH. 


21 


Raising her eyes as the door was pushed open 
roughly, she saw the old man standing upon the 
threshold glowering at her. Forcing herself to 
meet his eyes calmly for a moment, she paused, 
as if waiting for him to speak. He said noth- 
ing, however, but stood glaring at her ; then 
coming in, he closed the door, and crossed to his 
own room, directly opposite. Pausing there a 
second, he said, in a harsh voice, and without 
looking around, u Lay a plate for a guest ; an’ see 
to it, Mistress, that ye make yourself agreeable 
to Captain Rathborn when he comes to-night.” 
And with this, the old man passed in, closing the 
door noisily after him. 

With a face full of resolution and defiance, 
Betty arranged the extra seat ; but all the time 
her poor little heart was throbbing with its new 
anxiety, and her active little brain was in a 
whirl. From what Billy had said she was sure 
that some great danger was hanging over her lover, 
and that her Grandfather and the dashing Eng- 
lish Captain were in some plot against him. It 
was also evident that the Captain was on good 
terms with the smugglers of whom this same 
Adam Powers was a leading spirit. And she re- 
called how, some two years previous, young Tom 


22 


BETTY PEACH. 


Hathaway, tired of the lawless business, had 
spoken of going to Boston, to seek the honest 
employment a relative in that city had offered ; 
and that three days, afterwards his body had been 
washed ashore — some of the old women had said, 
with bruised and battered features, and the 
marks of black fingers on his throat. This rumor 
had been quickly hushed, however, and the 
theory established that Tom had somehow fallen 
overboard ; the rocks being blamed for the marks 
of bruising. 

And the girl now recalling how fiercely her 
Grandfather had bidden her hold her tongue, 
when she had repeated these rumors to him, re- 
membered how she had always, in a vague way, 
associated the stern, heartless old man with this 
tragedy. 

A little later, when they were at the table, 
Betty grew cold and shuddered as she sat oppo- 
site his dark, evil face and poured his tea. Cap- 
tain Rathborn was a guest, but the girl had not 
the power to exert herself to reply, save in 
monosyllables, to his gay talk and fulsome com- 
pliments. Indeed her poor little heart sank with 
foreboding whenever she was forced to look in- 
to his blue eyes, bent upon her with an intent- 
ness not to be mistaken. 


BETTY PEACH. 


23 


Even Billy’s presence would have been a wel- 
come help ; but the boy was having his evening 
meal in the kitchen, which he was ever welcome 
to do, for Squire Peach troubled himself little 
about the lad, so long as he kept himself out of 
the way. He was the orphaned child of the old 
man’s wilful daughter, whom he had cared for 
as for nothing else on earth, save money ; and he 
appeared to look upon the little cripple as the 
outward and visible sign of his own child’s in- 
gratitude. 

At length the meal was over ; and when the 
Captain and her Grandfather were shut in the 
old man’s private den, with their pipes and grog, 
Betty stole to the kitchen in search of Billy. 
But old Cata told her that the boy, after eating 
his supper, had gone out. Then the girl wrapped 
herself in a warm cloak, and drawing the hood 
of it over her head, went in search of him, al- 
though hoping all the time that he had gone 
to find Dan, and put him in possession of the 
facts he had ascertained. She well knew the 
idolatrous love Billy had always felt for the big 
sailor ever since the days when, a tiny mite, he 
used to climb up on his knee to listen to marvel- 
ous tales of sea adventure, of foreign folk, and 
far away lands. 


24 


BETTY PEACH. 


Betty searched the garden carefully, calling 
the boy’s name softly now and then, until she 
was assured he was not there. Then she went 
down to the shore, and, standing there under the 
stars, with the waves washing in on the sand 
with the quiet peace of the full tide, she gave the 
shrill whistle which he and she had always used 
for a signal. Then she listened ; but no sound 
came to her except the night wind, and the 
washing of the waves. Repeating the signal 
several times, and with a like result, she was sat- 
isfied at last that Billy was nowhere about the 
place. 

This thought made her heart feel lighter, as 
she reasoned that he had gone to warn Dan of 
his danger. 

She did not care to meet her Grandfather and 
Captain Rathborn again, and so, instead of re- 
turning to the house, she seated herself upon the 
rocks by the shore, and remained there musing 
over all she had heard and seen, her mind full of 
doubt and perplexity. 

She sat here, cudgeling her poor little brain 
for a long time ; then, realizing that it must be 
getting late, she arose and walked slowly toward 
that which she was forced to call u home.” As 


BETTY PEACH. 


25 


she approached the door, she heard the sound of 
voices within the hall, and recognizing them as 
belonging to those whom she desired to avoid, 
she hastened to conceal herself in the thick 
growth of bushes surrounding the house. 

Just then the door opened more widely and 
Captain Rathborn came out, her Grandfather 
standing behind him with a lighted candle in 
one hand, while the crooked, claw-like fingers of 
the other were held so as to shield the wavering 
flame. 

The Captain was saying with a laugh, and 
in a louder tone than he perhaps would have 
used had he been drinking less freely, “ Remem- 
ber, old Skinflint, what the immortal Shakespeare 
tells us, something to this effect : ’If ‘twere done, 
then ’tis well ’twere done quickly.’ And so say I, 
that the sooner it’s done the better for all of us. 
And that’s what I told Adam.” 

The old man replied in low, cautious tones, 
“An’ I tell ye, Captain Rathborn, as I told 
Adam, to remember there’s to be no bloodshed 
’bout it ; an’ so, I wash my hands o’ the whole 
affair.” 

The Captain turned about and came up the 
step again, as he said in a voice full of anger, 


26 


BETTY PEACH. 


“ Wash your hands of it, do ye ? See here, ye’re not 

softening towards that d d rapscallion, are 

ye? Ye’re not going back on your promise to 
me about Betty, eh? By the Lord! Ye do, 
and I’ll have the King’s officers lay ye by the 
heels for the bloody old smuggler that ye 
are, and so quickly, too, that ye won’t know 
whether your name be Peach or Devil, — which 
last I’m often in two minds about.” 

The old man’s evil eyes glittered, and there 
was a quivering of the long, bony fingers sil- 
houetted against the flame, as he replied, in a 
voice choked with rage, “ Any softening I have 
for Dan Marr will never do him good ; an’ 
for the wench, ye are welcome to her.” 

“ Spoken like a man and a gentleman, which 
ye are — not,” hiccoughed the other; and he 
turned away with a maudlin laugh, saying, 
“ Good night to ye, old Skinflint ; and ye can 
rely upon Bob Rathborn never showing ye up in 
your true light, so long as ye furnish his throat 
with such spirits, smuggled though it be, and 
his eyes with such sweet baggage as Mistress 
Betty.” 

Trembling with anger, disgust and terror, poor 
little Betty scarcely breathed until her Grand- 


BETTY PEACH. 


27 


father closed and barred the door, and the Cap- 
tain’s uncertain footfall had died away down the 
roadway. Then, waiting until she saw the light 
extinguished in the old man’s room, and so being 
assured of his having retired for the night, she 
stole softly around to the other side of the house, 
until she stood beneath the window of her own 
room. Here a stout apricot tree, growing vine- 
like, was to serve her, as it had many times 
before, for a ladder. Throwing her heavy cloak 
to the ground, she climbed into the tree and 
made her way noiselessly up through the branches, 
and so, by way of the window, into her chamber. 

And now, not daring to make a light, she felt 
her way quietly across the hall to Billy’s room, 
the door of which stood wide open. By the 
pale light coming in at the foot of the bed, 
she saw the boy was there, and with a soft 
“ Hush-sh-h,” she closed the door and seated 
herself beside him. 

“ Billy,” she whispered, “ Ye’re awake, aren’t 
ye? 

u Yes,” the boy replied, and there was little 
sign of drowsiness in his tone. 

“ Have ye seen Dan ? ” Betty asked, anx- 
iously. 


28 


BETTY PEACH. 


“ Oh, Betty ? ” he exclaimed so impetuously 
that the girl uttered another “ Hush ! ” and 
pressed her little hand over his lips. At this, 
he sank his voice, and continued, “ I went to 
find him, but could not anywheres, though I 
went to every place I could think o’. At last I 
met Dick Hadley, an’ he told me Dan had been 
at the Pine Tree, when the nigger boy from Mas- 
ter Harris’ came an’ told him Nancy was wait- 
ing to speak to him o’ a cargo her father had 
told on afore he went up to Boston yester’een ; 
an’ so I went past Master Harris’ place to wait 
for Dan to come out. But I only saw the nigger 
boy, an’ he told me Dan had not been to the 
house.” 

At the mention of Nancy’s name, Betty felt 
her heart harden for a second ; then she bravely 
put the jealous feeling aside, as she reminded 
herself of Dan’s danger. Again she seemed to 
see his face and hear his voice, as it had been 
that late afternoon, when, down on the shore, he 
had called her his u little maid ; ” so she asked 
calmly, “ Be that all, Billy ? ” 

“ Yes, that be all,” was the reply, uttered in a 
tone of despondency. Then the boy added, 
“Whatever shall we do, Bett, how can we do 
something to help Dan ?” 


BETTY PEACH. 


29 


“ I know,” the girl answered, with assuring 
decision sounding in her soft tones. “ Do ye 
get up and dress ; put on your warmest coat. 
An’ then we will climb out my window, an’ 
down the old apricot tree ; an’ when we get safe 
out o’ doors, I’ll tell ye all ’bout it.” 

Perfectly familiar with this method of egress 
and ingress, and accustomed to follow Betty’s 
lead in everything, Billy arose and dressed him- 
self ; and then they both climbed through the 
window, and so down to the ground. There the 
girl wrapped herself once more in her warm 
dark cloak, and the two, clasping hands, stole 
softly away under the rustling orchard trees, the 
stars shining down upon them like kindly eyes, 
and no sound to be heard save now and then the 
moan and washing of the sea. 

Neither spoke until they had climbed over the 
wall, and were trudging, with closely clasped 
hands, along the highway. 

“ Where be we going, Bett ? ” Billy now asked ; 
and he still whispered, as if in fear of waking 
their dreaded Grandfather. 

“To Nursey’s,” she answered, also in a 
whisper. 

“ What for ? ” the boy asked. 


.30 


BETTY PEACH. 


“ Never mind now, Billy,” was the reply. “I 
be sure I am knowing what to do ; an’ I want ye 
with me, I’ll feel safer.” 

Poor little Billy glowed all over at this, and 
clasped her hand still closer. 

“ An’ we best not talk,” Betty added. “ Some 
might hear us, ye know. An’ t’would not be 
any good person ; for ’tis so late, all good folk be 
abed this hour or more.” 

The boy’s clasp tightened at this, and he 
glanced about a bit apprehensively. 

In a minute or two Betty spoke again. “Now 
do ye be careful, Billy,” she said, u that ye keep 
quiet, no matter what ye see, or what happens. I 
be sure we can help Dan, an’ there be harm 
threatening him.” 

Her little heart was meanwhile throbbing 
with dread of the darkness and intense stillness ; 
a dread of she knew not what. And her sur- 
roundings were net such as to inspire courage in 
the heart of a girl of her tender years. Far to 
the west lowered the wooded hills, merged by 
the night into a compact blackness, until they 
resembled great crouching beasts, save where the 
glitter of the stars indicated the branches of the 
trees. From the base of the hills, the cultivated 


BETTY PEACH. 


31 

fields ran to meet the road along which these 
two brave young hearts trod ; with here and 
there, dotted far apart, small and roughly made 
dwellings, whose inmates had, for most part, re- 
tired long since. Once a watchful dog lifted up 
his voice as they passed, and now and again the 
crowing of a cock sounded cheerily, echoed as it 
was at times by others further away. 

“ Betty,” whispered Billy, after a time, as he 
lifted his white face to the stars, “ Don’t ye be- 
lieve our mothers an’ fathers be watching us up 
there ? ” 

“Yes, Billy,” the girl answered softly, as she 
looked into the heavens. 

“An’ don’t ye remember,” the boy continued, 
and there was a strange solemnity in his childish 
voice, “ How 1 the morning stars sang together? ’ 
An’ shouldn’t ye think they would sing, an’ they 
know we be going to keep Dan from hurt ? ” 

“ Hush, Billy,” she whispered, warningly. 
“Ye said ye would keep quiet.” 

Presently they left the road, and turning to 
the left, with their faces to the sea, began making 
their way to the narrow peninsula which ran out 
into the harbor, and had, upon its extreme point, 
a mountainous pale of rock. Perched upon this 


32 


BETTY PEACH. 


was the lighthouse, its feeble spark the only 
light showing in all the dense blackness. 

Ben Hope, the keeper, had, some years before, 
married Meg, the former housekeeper of Squire 
Peach ; and a motherly caretender she had al- 
ways been of the orphans. She had left the 
Squire’s service reluctantly, with many tears, 
shed solely on account of her love for the chil- 
dren. Again and again did she adjure old Cata 
to be good to them, emphasizing her behests with 
as much earnestness and solemnity as though 
she were at the point of death, rather than of 
matrimony. 

Then she had gone to live at the lighthouse 
with Ben, taking with her Bijah, her old and 
crippled brother, who, not being able to care for 
himself, had been tendered a home by her good 
hearted husband ; and the two of them, Meg and 
her brother, attended to the light, and performed 
many other of Ben’s duties, so leaving him to 
spend much of his time upon the water. 

Besides this, the good woman kept sufficient 
hens to supply eggs for the Squire’s table ; and 
by many little attentions and duties still main- 
tained, in a way, her position with her former 
charges, and was to them as she had ever been, 


BETTY PEACH. 


33 


their comforter and counselor. No matter 
whether they were wrong or right, the orphans 
were always sure of “ Nursey ” taking their part, 
and making their cause her own ; and many a 
time had she, by her own peculiar devices, kept 
from them the consequences of the old Squire’s 
anger. 

Betty and her companion had just reached the 
shore, when the girl thought she heard voices 
not far away, and paused to listen, while Billy’s 
fingers clasped her own all the more closely, as 
he stood, scarcely daring to breathe, beside her. 

In a few moments Betty was able to discern 
something coming toward them, and moving 
slowly, in a clumsy, lumbering fashion, a dark 
mass, whose outlines she could not distinguish. 

“ I see something coming this way, Billy,” she 
whispered to the boy. “ Quick, let’s hide,” and 
grasping his arm, she drew him behind a clump 
of rocks and thickly matted bushes, which stood 
up just where the peninsula left the shore line. 
Looking from behind their shelter, they saw a 
strange thing, — two men, who bore between them 
what appeared to be a long, dark bundle of some 
sort, like a bale of goods. They passed slowly 
along, and went down to the shore, where they 


34 


BETTY PEACH. 


stopped, and laid it down upon the sand, 
near a large, clumsy rowboat that lay there 
beached. This they soon pushed to the water’s 
edge, then returning for their burden, they lifted 
it by the ends, and swung it into the boat. 

Neither of the men had spoken, until one of 
them having gotten into the boat, the other was 
about to follow him, when the coarse voice of 
Adam Powers fell upon the girl’s ear, as he said 
to his companion, “ Easy, Peter, easy, man. 
Don’t ye set them iron-shod heels o’ ye’rn on his 
pretty carcass, ye know old master said an’ there 
was to be no red wine spilled.” 

Peter Trower had evidently been drinking 
heavily, for he stumbled into the craft with a 
volley of oaths, interspersed with remarks not 
very complimentary to the “ old master,” and 
adding, as he picked up his oar, “ ’Tis the Cap- 
tain pays best for this job, not that cursed old 
bloodsucker, Peach, who gives us all dirty work, 

an’ pockets the fine pickings for his d d 

old self.” 

As these words came clearly to their ears, 
Billy clutched Betty frantically, and she, fearful 
that he would make an outcry, caught him with 
a fierceness of which she was not mindful at the 


BETTY PEACH. 


35 


moment, and wrapping her cloak in smothering 
folds about his head and face, held him close 
until the boat had pushed off and was swallowed 
up in the darkness. 

“ Oh, Bett ! they’ve got Dan ! ” Billy gasped 
in a low voice, as he struggled out from the folds 
of the thick cloak. The girl made no reply, but 
arising from her cramped position, she grasped 
the boy’s hand, almost dragging him with her, 
as she started to run towards the lighthouse. In 
a moment, however, she stopped short. 

“ Hold, Billy,” she said quickly, “ We must 
not run. They might see — might hear us. We 
must make no noise. Listen, Billy.” 

With their hearts beating so hard as to make 
the pulses sound in their ears, they stood waiting, 
listening to assure themselves that their footfalls 
had not reached the ears of those in the boat ; 
but not a sound came to them save the lapping 
waves along the beach. 

Then, and as if to reassure them, Peter Trow- 
er’s voice was raised in song, and be it under- 
stood, Peter’s voice was one compounded of 
noise, rather than melody. 

“ Room, boys, room, by the light o’ the moon; 

Let every man enjoy his own room.” 


36 


BETTY PEACH. 


At this point he was silenced abruptly, as 
though Adam had laid a strong hand over his 
too tuneful lips. 

Then, assured of not having been observed, 
the boy and girl, with clasped hands, again 
sped onward. 

A low, rambling, one-storied building adjoined 
the lighthouse, and in it were three rooms, one 
of them being Meg’s sleeping room. To one of 
the windows of this Betty went, instead of 
to the door, for Ben was away for the night 
with the herring boats, as she had ascertained 
during her visit the previous afternoon. 

Tapping hurriedly upon the small pane, the 
girl soon brought Meg to the window, and in a 
few moments she and Billy were in the old, low- 
raftered kitchen and living room, where the 
feeble candle light revealed to the startled Meg 
their trembling forms and pallid faces. 

“ Whatever can be amiss?” she exclaimed in 
frightened tones. Billy began to cry, and she 
continued wildly, “ Does Squire be sick — dead ? 
Or be the house afire ? Whatever has befallen ? ” 

In rapid, faltering tones, Betty made the good 
soul acquainted with the facts, adding that she 
had come with the thought to get Meg to go to 


BETTY PEACH. 


37 


Widow Bar way’s, where Dan always lived when 
ashore, and put him on his guard against the 
plot which had been hatched for his injury. 
And then, having told her story, the poor child 
broke down, and gave way to a burst of tears. 

Meg was a shrewd soul and always kept her- 
self well informed as to the “ goings on ” of those 
about her. And now she sat with lowering 
brows, staring about the room for so long a time 
that Betty ceased weeping and looked at her 
inquiringly, feeling sure that her old nurse was 
seeing some way out of the tangle. 

Billy, too, who had with childish sympathy, 
leaned his head against the girl’s knees as he 
crouched on the floor, stared up into Meg’s face 
with expectant eyes and parted lips. 

“ Oh, Nursey,” Betty exclaimed with piteous 
eagerness, “ Are ye thinking it out, what we can 
do ? ” Where do ye think Adam an’ Peter be 

taking Dan? Ye don’t think Dan was ,” 

and she stopped with a shudder, leaving the 
awful word unsaid. 

Meg’s eyes came back from their gazing, as 
she answered quite cheerily, “ Not a bit o’ it, my 
lamb. Master Dan be no more dead than ye an’ 
I be. They would not quite do that, the rascals, 


3 » 


BETTY PEACH. 


for they know that he be too much loved here- 
abouts, for such matter to go unpunished. 
What I think be this : They caught an’ gagged 
him, an’ now Adam an’ Peter will take him off 
to . Ever been on Gull Rock, my lamb?” 

“ No,” Betty answered, with wonder showing in 
her eyes. 

“ I suppose not ; an’ neither have I, nor many 
others, I wot,” Meg said, rather irrelevantly. 
Then rising, as though struck by a new thought, 
she continued, “Now, Billy, my lamb, Nursey’s 
got a piece o’ that nice meat pie ye’re so fond o’, 
an’ I will put it on the table for ye, an’ a glass 
o’ weak drink. Ye must eat it all up, so ye get 
no illness from the damps this hour o’ the night. 
An’ Betty, my poppet, won’t ye take a sup, too ? 
Else I fear ye’ll be ill.” 

But Betty shook her pretty, curly head and 
tried to seem patient, for she well knew Meg’s 
peculiar ways. But the good soul quietly poured 
out an extra glass of the liquor and held it to the 
girl’s lips, saying coaxingly, “ Now, do ye drink 
this, my poppet ; then I have somewhat in next 
room I want ye to see ’bout, while Billy eats his 
supper here.” 

Betty satisfied her by taking a few swallows, 


BETTY PEACH. 


39 


making a wry face as the warming liquid 
went down her white throat. And now the boy, 
with the easy-to-be-diverted mind of childhood, 
and, in his case, emphasized by his mental afflic- 
tion, had drawn a chair to the table and began, 
nothing loath, to eat as Meg had bidden. See- 
ing him thus engaged, the good woman now 
lighted another candle, and motioning Betty to 
follow, led the way into her bedroom, closing the 
door softly behind them. 

“ Now, my poppet,” she began, “ I don’t dare 
trust the lad with what I want to tell ye ; an’ 
the men knew Ben had ever told me o’ Gull 
Rock, some would have the place ’bout our ears, 
or worse, mayhap ; so ye must never breath what 
I tell ye. Gull Rock, for most folk, be but 
a fearsome pile o’ rocks, with a bit o’ green 
on it, three miles out to sea. But there be 
caves there, my lamb, where the smugglers oft- 
times hide the cargoes. An’ that’s where the 
sons o’ Beelzebub have, for a surety, taken Dan ; 
an’ mayhap it’s to leave him there to starve, or, 
more like, till they be able to get him further 
away. Now no harm can befall before another 
night, for there do be no big ships in harbor, to 
bribe for the carrying him off. An’ a brave, stout 


40 


BETTY PEACH. 


lad like Master Dan can surely go more than the 
one day an’ night with lack o’ food, an’ no great 
harm. Now, do ye and Billy go home, my pop- 
pet, an’ go to sleep. To-morrow, come over an’ 
see old Nursey ; she will have a fine plan ready. 
Ben will help us, ye can be sure.” 

Betty’s black eyes began to sparkle again, and 
her face get back it’s sweet color. “ Oh, Meg,” 
she exclaimed, “ are ye sure, sure it will be as ye 
say ? ” 

“ Preachin’ sure, my poppet, ” the woman 
said, with firm conviction sounding in her voice. 
“ Preachin’ sure. So, don’t ye worry. I’ll go 
back with ye far as the Squire’s wall, else I’d 
not be like to sleep again.” 

They then returned to the larger room, and 
here they found plate and glass emptied, and 
Billy all but asleep in his chair. 

It was not long before the three were upon 
their way, Meg taking the precaution before 
starting to light the clumsy horn lantern she 
always carried when abroad after dark, partially 
concealing its glow in the folds of her volumi- 
nous red cloak. 

And so, she and her precious charges set out 
upon the homeward road. 


CHAPTER III. 


When old Cata awakened Betty the next morn- 
ing, the girl had little inclination to arise, but, 
snuggling down among the rosemary and lavender 
scented linen, she lay, half dreaming, until the 
thought of Dan came to her, a sharp flash of pain- 
ful reminding, and, with tremulous haste, she 
sprang from her bed and dressed as rapidly as she 
could. Then she glanced into Billy’s room, and 
seeing that the boy still slept heavily, deemed it 
wiser to leave him to his slumber ; so, without dis- 
turbing him, she went down to the dining room, 
where Squire Peach was already eating his por- 
ridge, his face sour enough in its expression to 
have affected the cream he poured into his bowl. 

He vouchsafed no reply to the girl’s timid sal- 
utation, but ate his frugal meal in stolid silence, 
eyeing her askance now and then. But when 
breakfast was over, he snapped out, “Come to 


42 


BETTY PEACH. 


my room, Mistress ; I’ve somewhat for ye to 
harken to.” 

Trembling, but inwardly defiant, she followed 
him. He closed the door after them, and poor 
little Betty began to feel as though a great bear 
had her safely in his den. But she leaned easily 
against the massive table in the center of the lit- 
tered room, her small fingers gripping its ma- 
hogany edge, as her hands rested upon it, and 
her little feet, which her short blue gown left 
well displayed in their small, black, steel-buckled 
shoes, set firmly and close together upon the pol- 
ished floor. And a sweet, dainty picture the girl 
presented, as with downcast eyes, she stood be- 
fore her Grandfather, awaiting his pleasure. 

But the hard-hearted, selfish old man had no 
softness or love for her girlish tenderness and 
beauty. He sat there in his great armchair, 
with an expression every whit as hard as the 
oaken arms and back of its seat. Indeed, 
if he thought of her beauty at all, it was as per- 
sonal merchandise, which should bring him, its 
owner and master, that which was the only thing 
his hard old heart cared for, — gold ! 

Betty was indeed a neglected flower ; a tender 
creature, growing up unheeded and unloved by 


BETTY PEACH. 


43 


him who should have been her chief counselor 
and defender. But to him she had been little 
other than an incumbrance, the unwished-for 
offspring of his only son’s wilful marriage with a 
girl whose only fault ( but in his eyes, an unpar- 
donable sin ) was poverty. It was therefore 
small wonder that Betty should pay little heed 
to his wishes or commands. 

The old man sat silently puffing his long clay 
pipe, black with constant use, and for several 
seconds eyed the girl stonily ; and then his an- 
ger found voice. 

“ Haven’t I forbidden ye converse o’ any sort, 
Mistress, with that ne’er-do-well, Daniel Marr ? ” 
he demanded, in his harshest tone. 

Betty looked at him, and an expression of de- 
termination began to manifest itself about the 
soft lines of her sweet mouth ; but she made no 
answer to his question. Indeed she had little op- 
portunity to respond, for the old man continued, 
scarcely pausing, “Ye know well that I did, ye 
good for nothing baggage. An’ yester’een ye were 
on the beach with the scapegrace. Had ye seen 
him before ? ” 

“No, sir,” she answered quietly, and again 
looked down. And the old man knew she was 


44 


BETTY PEACH. 


telling the truth, for she was one in whose word 
he had always been able to place implicit reli- 
ance. 

“Have ye seen him since? Look up ye huz- 
zy, answer me that, an’ give me truth.” 

Betty looked up, with a flash in her soft eyes ; 
and hesitated. But before she could frame her 
answer, the old man spoke again. 

“ Answer me ; ” he thundered. “ Answer me ; 
or — ” and he raised his arm threatingly. 

The girl did not flinch nor shrink, but said, 
quietly, “ Ye can strike me, Grand’ther, an’ ye 
like, all I can tell ye is — no ! ” This was all, but 
it was enough ; the old man’s arm fell, and he 
looked a bit bewildered. 

“ Are ye lying to me ? ” he demanded, leaning 
forward to peer at her more closely. She met 
the gaze of his hard eyes unflinchingly, as she 
replied in measured syllables, “ I’ve not spoken 
with Dan but the once, an’ ye saw me down 
on the beach.” 

The Squire fell back in his chair, and for a 
second or so he puffed vigorously at his pipe. 
Then he asked, sharply, “ What were ye talking 
o’ then, eh ? ” Betty’s eyes again sought the 
floor, and she blushed. 


BETTY PEACH. 


45 


The old man quickly noted this, and his face 
grew more hard and evil than before. 

“ Hark ye,” he thundered. u I’ll make ye rue 
the day an’ ye had ever love making with Dan 
Marr ! Mark ye that well ! An’ mark this, as; 
well ! The next time ye see Captain Rathborn, 
he will ask ye to marry. An’ marry him ye will, 
or ” and again he lifted his arm, but low- 

ered it again as he shouted, “Now go, — get out 
o’ my sight ; but see to it ye do as I bid, an’ ye 
know what’s the best for ye ! ” 

Betty, making no reply to these cruel words, 
hastened to escape from his presence and gain 
her own room. Once here, she locked herself in, 
and then gave way to the strain which the events 
of the past four and twenty hours had imposed 
upon her ; throwing herself upon the bed, she 
wept long and bitterly. 

But, for all this, she was brave and her cour- 
age did not forsake her. She felt there was too 
much at stake, both for her sake and that of her 
lover. 

So, after a time, the rain of tears was hushed 
back, and with a new look of dogged determina- 
tion showing about the soft, round jaw, she arose 
and bathed her face and eyes ; then, hearing Bil- 


4 6 


BETTY PEACH. 


ly moving about his room, she went in to him. 

She surmised that the boy’s own sense of fear 
would prove an effectual seal upon his lips 
regarding the events of the night before ; but that 
there might be no question as to this, she said to 
him, “ Billy, ye must not forget we be to 
let no one — no one think we know aught o’ Dan. 
An’ we do, Grand’ther would lock us up ; an’ I 
don’t know what he might not do to us.” 

Billy looked scared, and glanced with appre- 
hension toward the closed door. 

“ An’ Billy,” she added, “ after Cata gives ye 
somewhat to eat, do ye go up to the Pine Tree 
an’ see an’ hear whatever ye can. Mind, an’ ye 
talk to no one, but look an’ listen with all your 
eyes an’ ears. I will go an’ see Nursey for a bit.” 

“ Does Nursey be going to know how to find 
Dan, an’ hide him safe ? ” And there was a 
sparkle of unwonted cunning in the boy’s blue 
eyes. 

“ Yes,” Betty replied, very gravely, “ An ye be 
sure and careful 'to talk with none. An’ ye begin 
to talk, ye may spoil all o’ Nursey ’s plans, an’ 
then ye would be the death o’ Dan.” 

“Never ye fear, Bett,” he replied, firmly. 
“Adam couldn’t drag one word out o’ me, nor 


BETTY PEACH. 


47 


shall any o’ the rest.” And with this he started 
for the door. But the girl’s quick eye taking in 
his disordered appearance, she called him back. 
“ Oh, Billy,” she said, “ Look at ye hair ! Ye 
shall not go out looking so.” 

“What’s amiss, Bett? — I’ve brushed it.” 

“In front, mayhap,” she said, unable to re- 
press a smile. “ But the back looks like the 
crow’s nest we found last week, up in the woods 
on Gaily ’s Hill.” And seizing the brush from 
the dressing table, she smoothed his long, soft 
locks with a motherly care. Then, bending, she 
kissed his cheek lightly, saying, “ There ! ’tis all 
proper. Now go, Billy ; remember, have great 
care as to what ye say.” 

The boy made no reply to this parting injunc- 
tion, but clattered down the stairs at breakneck 
speed, and Betty, equipping herself, set out for 
the lighthouse. 

Old Bijah was chopping firewood from the 
pile of wreckage in front of the door, and Meg 
was bustling about within, when the girl arrived, 
her face showing like a wild rose from beneath 
the hood of her dark cloak. 

“ Bless ye’r pretty face, Mistress,” said the old 
cripple, pausing from his labors. “Yes, ye’ll 


48 


BETTY PEACH. 


find Meg within,” and he bent his faded, kindly 
little eyes upon her with admiring approval. 

Meg’s harsh voice, raised in song, was stilled 
abruptly at sight of her favorite, and beckoning 
to her, she led the way at once to her own room. 
Betty followed without a word spoken, and the 
door was closed behind them. 

All about, the sea stretched, sparkling, in hue 
like a dark purple pansy, with here and there, 
near shore, flickerings of foam that, catching the 
sun’s rays, sparkled like jewels set in lace. Over 
it arched the sky, like an inverted pansy of paler 
tint, with not a cloud to fleck its violet. 

The small window, looking out upon this, was 
wide open, and the breeze coming in, floated out 
the muslin curtains on either side, like ghostly 
draperies. 

Before Meg had an opportunity to speak, 
Betty, chancing to glance through the window, 
her keen young eyes spied the sails of two large 
craft upon the far-off horizon. 

“ Oh, Meg, look ! ” she exclaimed, pointing to 
the sea. 

“ What, where, my precious ? Oh, the sails ! 
What o’ it?” Meg’s tone and manner seemed 
unconcerned. 


BETTY PEACH. 


49 


“ May they not be ships coming into our har- 
bor ? ” the girl asked, with some anxiety in her 
voice. 

“ An’ what an’ they be ? Fishing boats, belike, 
coming in to sell their catch, or mayhap gentry 
from Boston, coming down for an extra fine cargo 
o’ fish, such as all folk know we ofttimes have 
ready for them here.” But the good woman got 
her glass, and tried to spy out more minutely, 
the appearance of the far-away sails ; for, despite 
her matter-of-fact tone, she felt a bit uneasy. 

Presently she said, laying her glass aside, 
“ They be too far off yet to see much, so never 
ye mind them now, my lamb, but sit down here 
on my bed. I’ll sit here.” And she drew up a 
stiff, high-backed chair alongside the bed, upon 
whose side she had gently, but firmly, placed the 
young girl. Then, seating herself, she took one 
of Betty’s little hands in her own, and stroking 
it gently, said, “ Now list ye, my lamb. I’ve 
told Ben all ’bout it, an’ he thinks much as I do. 
Now, when dark falls, he will take his sailboat 
an’ run down to Gull Rock, to see whether or 
no, the cutthroats have tethered Master Dan in 
the caves there. An’ he finds it be so, he’ll have 
the lad off in a trice, an’ will bring him back 


50 


BETTY PEACH. 


here. Then we can stow him away safe in the 
loft o’head ; after that there’ll be plenty o’ time 
to think out what be to come next.” 

“ What time does Ben think to start, Meg?” 
Betty asked, with some anxiety. 

“ Eight o’ the clock, or thereabouts, my lamb ; 
ye see ’twould not do to go while ’tis daylight. 
Master Dan must be got off afore the wrong ones 
get there again. Adam, or other of his ilk, may 
or may not go over to-night. An, they do, 
ye can be sure ’twill be after all good folk be 
sound asleep.” 

“ Nursey,” Betty said, quietly, “ I’ll go with 
Ben ; an’ ye bid him wait for me.” 

“Ye, my pretty?” exclaimed the old woman, 
in a tone of amazement. But Betty got hold of 
her two hard hands in her own soft little ones and 
patted them coaxingly. 

“Why not, Nursey, why not?” she pleaded. 
“ I love Dan dearly, he loves me ; an’ — an’ — Oh, 
Meg, I must go with Ben ! ” 

“ Well, then, — there, ye shall do just an’ ye 
please, my lamb. I knew long since how ’twas 
with Master Dan an’ ye.” And the good 
woman leaned forward, and taking the sweet 
young face between her hands, she kissed it 
lovingly. 


BETTY PEACH. 


51 


Meanwhile, as Meg and Mistress Betty were 
thus conferring, there was going on, in a remote 
part of the village, another consultation, of a 
somewhat different nature, albeit pertaining in 
part to the same subject of interest. 

In a private room at the Pine Tree Inn, Squire ' 
Peach and Captain Rathborn sat together. The 
former was examining a written paper the Captain 
had given him for perusal, and a candle and wax 
were on the table in readiness for the package to 
be sealed when the old man should have finished 
reading the document, which was of some length. 

The Captain sat opposite, drinking, and, as 
was his habit, taking three glasses to the Squire’s 
one, pouring the liquor from the bottle which 
stood upon the table. His face was fast assum- 
ing its usual ruddy hue, due to the frequent 
potations in which he was indulging, and this 
was the more accentuated by contrast with his 
carefully powdered hair, done up in an elabor- 
ate queue. 

He was saying to the Squire, “Ye see, old 
Skinflint, as ye are ever ready to suspect false 
play, I thought it best to have ye read, with 
those fine eyes of yours (Old Nick save the 
mark ! ) the list of the cargo that ye say is to be 


52 


BETTY PEACH. 


mine. An’ then we’ll seal it here under your 
nose, Larry will take it to the wharf this 
noon, where he’ll find Adam. I’ve already given 
that cutthroat his instructions, so he’ll load his 
craft with the casks to-night; and up sail for Bos- 
ton, where he is to wait for me in a place only 
he an’ I are to know of, an’ ye please.” 

“ Ahem,” said the other, stroking his chin, 
and gazing fixedly at the debonair countenance 
of the captain. 

“Well, what is it? Doesn’t the list corre- 
spond with what ye said? ” 

“ Oh, yes, yes, ’tis quite correct,” answered the 
old man, who, having finished reading, had now 
laid the paper on the table. 

The other snatched it up, and after folding it, 
proceeded to seal it. 

“ Be Adam going alone ? ” inquired the Squire, 
watching the movements of his companion’s 
white slim hands, as though suspicious of their 
power to put something more within the paper, 
as unlawful property. 

“Alone? No; Peter Trower will go along; 
those two seem alway to be found in the same 
boat. A sweet pair they will make for the hang- 
man. Oh ! By ! ” The Captain inter. 


BETTY PEACH. 


53 


rupted himself with a loud, fierce oath, a drop of 
the burning wax having fallen upon his careful 
ly kept fingers. 

“ Does ye man know Adam ? ” asked the 
Squire, after a silence, in which the doughty 
Captain was sucking at his injured finger, and 
examining it as anxiously as might some vain 
belle. 

“ Know him ? D — n that wax ! Know him* 
say you ? Why, no, he don’t, so far an’ I know ; 
but Larry’s no fool, and he can easy enough 
find him.” 

“ There be no names on the paper,” the old 
man continued, “ only the listed articles. So, an’ 
wrong persons get hold o’ it ’twould tell naught. 
Only, to be sure, there be the place mentioned 
where they may be found — the Pigeon’s Store- 
away ; — that might be awkward in wrongful 
hands.” 

“ Hark ye, old Skinflint, what be the use in 
your imaginings ? Ye are like the heathen, in 
that ye ‘imagine a vain thing.’ In my opinion 
ye’re regretting giving me the liquor at all, an’ 
trying to think on some way to get it back.” 

“Ye should drink less, Captain Rathborn ; 
liquor seems to make ye quarrelsome.” The old 


54 


BETTY PEACH. 


man said this with something like dignity in his 
impassive face and grave, low tone. 

The other laughed scornfully. “ I’ll own to 
your being the prince of smugglers, and a stony- 
hearted parent, willing to sell your own flesh 
and blood ; but your preaching will not go 
down with Bob Rathborn. He knows ye too 
well for that, old Skinflint, so just quit it, I tell 
ye ! ” Here the Captain pounded on the table 
so lustily that the glasses jingled. In response 
to the thumping Landlord Robey came in from 
the outer room, closing the door quickly after 
him, and standing with his back against it. 

“ Where’s Larry, my man ? ” Captain Rath- 
born asked, turning toward him. 

“ He be out in the yard, sir, or was a minute 
agone.” 

“ Well, just ye hunt him up, Robey ; I want 
him in a hurry,” and as the landlord went out, 
the Captain continued in a lower tone than usual, 
“ We got the job done up an’ I told ye, all safe, 
and ” 

The old man interrupted him coldly, “ An’ I 
tell ye, sirrah, that matter be naught to me,” 
but his wicked eyes showed a gratified malice, 
which was not lost upon the other, who had 


BETTY PEACH. 


55 


been watching him keenly, and who now burst 
out in a fury, “Naught to ye, ye old liar? 
I know better! Ye wash your hands of it, 
so ye said last night. But ye have as much 

to do with Dan Marr being carried off, as I 

have.” 

“ Sh-h-h ! ” hissed the other, warningly, and 
clinching one of his claw-like hands as though 
to resist the temptation to strike the younger 
man, who sank his tone, but continued, as fiercely 
as before, “ Who knows better than I, an’ Dan 
Marr chose, he could tell of some deeds that 

would be harder for ye to answer to than 

smuggling ? All I wanted him out the way for 
was that he was in the road to my game with 
sweet Mistress Betty. ’Twas that ye feared his 
tongue tripping, that made ye want to lock him 
away. Now I half suspect ye of a notion of 
never letting him off from where he is. But let 
me tell ye that I’ll be down this way again be- 
fore long, an’ I find ye mean murder, I’ll inform 
on ye myself, or my name’s not Bob Rathborn. 
I want Betty, and no other man shall have 

her ; but by , I’ll not have my name tangled 

up in the taking of that fellow’s life. So mind 
ye that ! ” 


5 ^ 


BETTY PEACH. 


Squire Peach cast an evil look at the other, 
vouchsafing no reply. Presently, and in a more 
amiable tone, Captain Rathborn continued, “ An’ 
ye agree to it, I am to carry sweet Mistress Betty 
off in my coach the night, to make her Mistress 
Rathborn in Boston, whether she will say me 
yea or nay ? ” 

“ I’ve answered ye that,” replied the old man 
sulkily, as he filled his glass. Just here came a 
knocking at the door again, and the Captain 
calling out facetiously, “ Entrez Out,” it opened, 
and a bullet-headed, stupid-faced Irishman came 
in. It was Larry, and he was apparently some- 
what the worse for liquor. 

This fact appeared in no wise to disturb his 
master ; probably for the reason that he was 
quite accustomed to seeing the fellow in that 
condition. So picking up the sealed packet from 
the table, Captain Rathborn held it toward him, 
saying “ Do ye take that, and be careful of it, — 
very. Go down to the wharf, find Adam Pow- 
ers and give it him. Mind ye say nothing but 
‘ Here’s your orders,’ and give him the packet ; 
that’s all.” 

Larry rubbed his head a little perplexedly. 
“ How’ll I ever know him ? ” 


BETTY PEACH. 


57 


u Ask another, ye d d muddlehead ; 

ask ! ” 

“All right, thin, sorr,” said the Irishman, too 
well drilled to question further, and too conceited 
as to his own cunning to make further display 
of his utter ignorance as to whom Adam Powers 
might be. 

When outside, he tarried for a few more drinks, 
which only served to befuddle him still further, 
and then he started upon his mission. In the 
yard he met one of the maids and stopped to 
renew an old flirtation ; so that an hour later, as 
he sat on the timbers of the old wharf, the com- 
bined action of the liquor and the sun, together 
with the soothing sound of the lapping water, 
put him into so deep a slumber that he was not 
awakened by the hurrying feet about him of 
several folk whose curiosity had drawn them 
thither to see who should come ashore from the 
two recently arrived ships. 

One of the soldiers, who had just landed, see- 
ing and recognizing Larry, paused for a moment ; 
then stooping, he shook him violently by the 
shoulder, calling him by name. 

“Eh, eh?” queried the intoxicated Irishman, 
- partially opening his eyes. 


58 


BETTY PEACH. 


“Ye drunken dog ! ” exclaimed the soldier 
“ Where’s the Captain ? ” 

“Captain?” was the hiccoughed answer, 
“ Captain ? Oh, yes, I know. Here, here,” he 
fumbled in his pocket, and finally producing the 
packet, he thrust it upon the other, saying, 
“ Here’s your orders,” and fell back again, with 
a heavy, long drawn breath that bespoke a re- 
newal of his interrupted slumber. 

“My orders, eh,” muttered the soldier, exam- 
ining the packet, which bore no inscription ; 
“ Let’s see them,” and he tore it open, glancing 
with a bewildered look over the writing inside^ 
which, as Captain Rathborn had written it the 
night before, was decidedly scrawling. 

A number of the young soldiers had now 
gathered about him, and, glancing at the sleep- 
ing Irishman, one of them exclaimed, “W T hy, it’s 
Larry ! ” and another asked what the paper was. 

“ That drunken Paddy, there, gave it me, and 
said ’twas my orders ; but I’m blessed an’ I can 
make it out.” 

“Make it out?” said another of them sharp- 
ly ; “I should say ye’d no call to make it out. 
That paper goes to the Ensign.” 

“ That’s true, after all,” said the other. 


BETTY PEACH. 


59 


Meanwhile a burly, broad shouldered man in 
seaman’s clothing was hanging about the group ; 
and without attracting attention he had glanced 
curiously over the soldier’s shoulder at the paper 
while the other was trying to decipher it. As he 
did so, he scowled murderously at the sleeping 
Larry, and turning, went straight to the Pine 
Tree, where already many of the soldiers were, — 
some inside, but the most of them without, 
laughing and talking with the village folk gath- 
ering there. 

Adam Powers, — for he it was, — found Robey 
drawing liquor from a cask, for some of his 
thirsty guests. He stooped, as though to ex- 
amine the fluid pouring into the huge earthen 
pitcher the landlord held, and whispered, 
“ Where’s Captain ? ” 

Robey made a motion with his head. Hang- 
ing about in an uncertain fashion for awhile, 
Adam asked, so that all could hear, “Where’s be 
the Missus ? I’ve to see her ’bout sum’mut.” 

Robey jerked his thumb suggestively over his 
shoulder. Following the direction indicated, 
Adam went into the room where Squire Peach 
and Captain Rathborn had been, closing the door 
after him. The emptied bottle and glasses still 


6o 


BETTY PEACH. 


stood upon the table, but the former occupants 
had departed, which seemed to be quite as Adam 
had expected. Crossing the room, he listened 
a moment ; then, opening a slide, in what ap- 
peared to be solid oak paneling, he passed 
through, and closed it noiselessly after him. 
He evidently was well acquainted with the 
premises, for he moved a few feet forward 
and then, stooping, felt about until he found 
the iron ring he was groping for. Lifting 
this, a flight of steps, wooden at the top, and 
hewn roughly, in fact a mere pathway at the 
bottom, showed in a dim light coming from 
some crevice in the rocks overhead, that arched 
out a grim vaulting over a narrow, winding pas- 
sage. Stumbling along this, as if in great haste, 
Adam came at last to an opening, where, beyond, 
a circular cavern ended the way. In this were 
piled portions of various smuggled cargoes ; and 
in the furthermost corner, upon some of the 
debris, were seated the two men he sought. 
There was seemingly no other opening to 
the place than along the way Adam had come, 
although the sound of the sea, washing on the 
rocks without, could be heard. 

At sight of him the two men ceased their con- 
verse, and looked up inquiringly. 


BETTY PEACH. 


6l 


“Did ye send that fool Irishman to me, 
Captain, with that paper ye said was to be the 
sign, an’ my orders ? ” 

“To be sure I did. What’s the matter, that 
ye don’t understand ? ” 

“ The matter be, some wrong parties c don’t 
understand ; ’ an’ they may, better’n we want 
they should, afore night.” 

The Captain sprang to his feet. “ What be ye 
saying? ” he exclaimed. 

“ Say in’ there be two ship loads o’ red coats 
landed in harbor, an’ many o’ ’em be up in 
the Pine Tree this minute. That d — d Irish- 
man lyin’ drunk on the wharf, gave yer paper 
to one o’ them that come ashore.” 

A wicked oath escaped the Captain, and the 
Squire sprang to his feet with another. The old 
man’s glittering eyes turned on his younger com- 
panion’s face, and his lips parted as though to 
speak ; but seeming upon second thoughts to 
change his mind, he remained silent. 

Captain Rathborn pondered for a few minutes. 
Then looking up, he said, in a somewhat relieved 
tone, “ An’ Tarry’s drunk, he can explain naught. 
I’ll see to it he be put away safely, so that when 
he be himself, he’ll explain the way we wish 


62 


BETTY PEACH. 


him to. No one can say to whom the paper 
belongs, or who sent it. As for ‘ The Pigeons,’ ” 
waving his hand about him, and laughing, 
“ They’d have to look a long time about them 
to find it. Do you see Peter an’ warn him, Adam. 
Have the craft all ready to sail with whatever 
cargo turns up for the best, this night. ’Tis all as 
well we have Dan Marr out the way. I’ll see 
to it that all concerned be warned in time, an’ 
there be need to fear trouble.” 

Adam listened in sullen silence, and then, as 
the Captain made an end of speaking, he began 
to move aside sundry large bales that had been 
piled before a low opening, either natural, or 
hewn out of the rocks. Through this he dis- 
appeared, saying, “ We’ll wait all day, Captain, 
Peter an’ me, at the Chasm.” 

“ An’ now what do ye purpose doing, Captain 
Rathborn,” asked Squire Peach, when Adam 
had gone. 

“ See to Tarry, first. Then I must see Mis- 
tress Harris, an’ make sure she says naught she 
should not. Shall I find ye in your own 
house ? ” 

“No,” the Squire answered, not very cordially. 
“ I’ll be at the Chasm ’till late, with Adam na’ 


BETTY PEACH. 


63 


Peter. An’ we hear naught from ye by dark, I’ll 
go home.” 

Then the two men followed the way Adam 
had taken, coming out upon the shore in the 
midst of a huge rock pile, far from the village. 
Before them lay the sea, sparkling in the after- 
noon sunshine, and anchored a few yards from 
the shore lay the rakish little bark “ Rambler,” 
of which Adam was captain and part owner. It 
was one of several similar crafts in which Squire 
Peach was interested, and used by him in his 
many nefarious enterprises. 

The old Squire now took his way alone, up 
and along the beach, which led him still farther 
from the village ; while Captain Rathborn turned 
inland, and went across the fields, where, save 
himself, no moving thing was in sight. 


CHAPTER IV. 


A spirit of unrest possessed Betty that day, 
and in the afternoon she determined to call upon 
Nancy Harris, and, if possible, satisfy herself as 
to a certain thought which had been troubling 
her. The recollection of what Billy had told 
her the night before, how that Nancy had sent 
word to Dan to come to the house, had set her 
wondering if Nancy could have had any hand in 
the abduction of her lover. 

It looked as though Dan had been waylaid 
while going to the Harris house, unless the 
darkey boy had been mistaken in telling Billy 
that he had not been there ; and she well knew 
Nancy to be of a nature quite capable of ruining, 
where she could not rule. The two girls had 
been rival belles since their childhood, and many 
were the spiteful, ill-natured tricks that Betty 
had to remember of the other’s jealousy and 
vindictiveness. 


BETTY PEACH. 


65 


She now recalled the fact of her having passed 
down the road the previous afternoon, while she 
and Dan stood talking by the boat on the beach. 
And she remembered also, that more than once, 
Captain Rathborn, as if to pique her into more 
kindliness of manner towards himself, had boasted 
of the other girl’s favors of which he was the 
recipient. 

These facts came to her mind now, and with a 
strange suggestiveness ; and, as already said, she 
determined to ascertain, if she could, what con- 
nection they had with the fate of Dan Marr. 

Just as she was setting forth, she encountered 
Billy, who, earlier in the day, had reported to her 
his failure to learn anything new, Dan’s absence 
not seeming to have been noticed by his fellows ; 
or, if it was, not deemed worthy of special 
remark. 

Now the boy burst forth excitedly with, “Oh, 
Bett? There be two new ships in harbor, 
an’ many soldiers o’ the King’s. An’ I saw a 
fine lady at Inn, who came with them, all in 
silk, an’ grand gold earrings, an’ a chain o’ 
gold ’round her neck ; an’ such big black eyes, 
that shone as Grand’ther’s do when he beats me. 
I think she be angered at some one or somewhat.” 


66 


BETTY PEACH. 


“Who be she?” Betty asked, without mani- 
festing very much interest. 

“ I know not,” the boy replied. “No one 
knows. The soldiers be here for no harm, I 
think, for they be drinking an’ laughing with 
the men up at the Pine Tree ; an’ one o’ them 
was saying they wanted to have speech with 
Captain Rathborn, but no one can say where he 
may be found.” 

“Was Grand’ther at the Pine Tree?” Betty 
asked, beginning to feel a bit excited over all 
this unusual stir. 

“ I cannot say ; I did not see him,” Billy 
answered. “ Where be ye going, Betty ? ” 

“To Nancy Harris’ house, for awhile.” 

“ To tell her o’ the grand lady, an’ the sol- 
diers ? ” the boy asked, with a smile. 

“ Mayhaps,” Betty said. “ But do ye bide here, 
like a good boy. I’ll not be gone long.” 

“ Hurry back, Bett, for I want to show ye a 
new rabbit Dick Hadley caught me in his trap 
this morning.” 

“ I’ll see it when I come home ; I’ll not be 
long gone,” she said to him over her shoulder, 
and walked quickly away. 

Taking the path across the fields, to avoid the 


BETTY PEACH. 


67 


Pine Tree, as well as the soldiers, Betty was 
about half way over when she found that a small 
pebble, or other painful intruder, had gotten into 
her low shoe ; and being now a safe distance from 
the more thickly populated part of the village, 
she went close up to the road, and sitting down 
on the grass, proceeded to divest herself of her 
dainty footgear. 

She found inside, a small, sharp pebble ; this 
she removed, and was retying the lace, when, 
happening to glance sidewise, she saw Nancy 
herself coming down the road toward her, and 
with her was Captain Rathborn. They seemed 
be in earnest conversation, and the Captain held 
one of the girl’s hands as they strolled along. 
Neither of them had as yet seen the small figure 
by the wayside before them. 

Setting her little white teeth hard, Betty arose, 
and stood waiting until they should come to 
meet her. 

Engrossed as they were with each other, they 
were quite close to Betty before either of them 
saw her. The man flushed, and dropped Nancy’s 
hand, but that young lady’s pale blue eyes stared 
boldly as ever, and she giggled and tossed her 
head, and the color in her pretty, albeit doll-like 
face, never changed by a shade. 


68 


BETTY PEACH. 


u Why, Betty,” she said, with a simper, “ Who’d 
ever thought to meet ye here, an’ all by yourself, 
too ? ” 

“ I was on my way to see ye, Nancy,” the 
other answered, quietly, and never glancing at 
the Captain, who stood, looking rather uncom- 
fortable, but with his eyes fixed upon her frank 
face, made more so than ever by contrast with 
that of his companion ; and, meanwhile, the 
Captain’s own visage had assumed a shade, rud- 
dier, if possible, than usual. 

“Were ye?” said Nancy. “I’m just on my 
way to the village, to do an errand ; so come ye 
back with me. An’ ’tis worth while, too, for 
they say a whole company o’ redcoats be come 
ashore,” and again she simpered, and tossed her 
yellow head until the long gold earrings tapped 
her white neck as they swayed to and fro. 

“No, thank ye; I’ve no taste for redcoats,” 
Betty retorted sharply, looking now, and rather 
fiercely, at the Captain, who was still staring at 
her with evident admiration. 

“ Ye be surely not o’er polite, Mistress Betty,” 
said Nancy, an equal tartness showing in her 
tone. “ But ye be welcome as the rest, to choose 
company ; an ’twill not be ours, for we be going 


BETTY PEACH. 


69 


to have a look at the soldiers, eh, Captain ? ” 

But the Captain, with his bold eyes fixed on 
Betty, made no reply. He stood with his back 
turned to the road coming from the village, and 
so failed to notice two women who were draw- 
ing near from that direction. No more had 
Nancy, who had no eyes but for Betty’s pretty 
face, and no thought but of some sharp words 
wherewith to taunt her, — a favorite pastime of 
her malicious nature. 

The newcomers approaching slowly, proved to 
be a handsome and well-dressed lady, in company 
with Mistress Robey, the wife of the landlord of 
the Pine Tree. They seemed to be out for a 
walk, for Mistress Robey appeared to be calling 
her companion’s attention to the scene about 
them, as she pointed along the road to the far-off 
houses, or out to the water, where a few dingy- 
sailed herring boats were beginning to creep out 
to the night’s fishing on the almost windless 
sea. 

The stranger was young and slender, and she 
was clad after a fashion unusual and rich, for 
those parts. Her dress was of heavy silk, and 
Betty could hear it rustling as she passed along. 
It sounded in her ears like the wind blowing 


70 


BETTY PEACH. 


amongst the dried corn husks. She could see 
the glint of gold in the lady’s ears and about her 
neck. She made no doubt that she was the one 
Billy had told her of, who had come in one of 
the recently-arrived ships. 

Neither Nancy or the Captain had as yet seen 
anything of this. The girl still had her eyes 
fixed upon Betty, and appeared to be searching 
her shallow brain for some words of annoyance 
or injury which she could fling at her in the 
presence of the Captain. At last she said, u An’ 
since ye have such distaste for redcoats, Mistress 
Betty, perchance a sailor’s color be more to your 
liking, since ye stayed so long to converse with 
that sort down on the beach yestere’en.” 

Betty now looked full into the other girl’s 
large, glassy eyes, gleaming with spite, and re- 
plied with perfect calmness, “ My likes an’ doings 
seem to concern ye nearly. Pray what business 
be it o’ yours with whom I hold converse, or 
when, or where ? ” 

The Captain’s face had now lost all of its 
pleasant humor, and he seemed to be taking con- 
siderable interest in the conversation. 

Nancy dropped a mocking oourtesy, as she 
replied, “ Aye, it seems to be my business just 


BETTY PEACH. 


7 1 


now, inasmuch as I should like to ask, have ye 
seen, this day, the man with whom ye were talk- 
ing so earnestly when I passed down the road 
yestere’en ? ” And there was a concentrated 
undertone of malice in her voice, that assured 
Betty that her surmises were correct. 

She was positive now that Nancy knew of 
Dan’s ill-fortune, if indeed, she had not been instru- 
mental in bringing it upon him. And so, full of 
indignation at the girl’s cruel treachery, her dark 
eyes flashed fire that devoured all their wonted 
softness, and she raised her small head haughtily> 
as she exclaimed, “ Nancy Harris, I never knew 
’till now what a wicked girl ye were ! ” 

Whatever Nancy had to say in reply to this 
was stayed by the strange lady and her companion 
pausing beside them. The Captain saw them 
first, and whirled suddenly about, a wicked oath 
escaping from his lips. Betty had never before 
seen his face so colorless. 

For several seconds they stood, staring at the 
lady, whose angry eyes, taking no heed of the 
others, were fixed upon Captain Rathborn’s 
pallid face. Mistress Robey, meanwhile, stood 
by wondering and looking very uneasy, her 
eyes wandering from her campanion to the officer, 


72 


BETTY PEACH. 


and back again. But at length she ventured to 
say, “ This be the Captain Rathborn, Mistress, 
ye were inquiring for.” 

“Aye, that I well know, good dame,” the lady 
replied, but never removing her gaze from the 
man’s face. 

Then she said to him, with a mocking smile, 
“You seem pleased to see me.” He made no 
reply, still standing as though petrified. Then 
she continued, coming a little nearer to him, 
“ Perhaps I have come at a wrong time, and so 
spoiled some of your usual pretty sport.” 

And now he was able to speak, and “ D n 

you ! ” burst from his pale lips. He could say 
no more, but stood there, his features distorted 
by mortification and rage. 

Nancy now spoke up. “Who be ye?” she 
demanded, haughtily, addressing the stranger. 

The latter’s dark eyes turned upon the girl for 
a second, with calm regard ; then she said, “ May 
I inquire who you are, that ask me such a ques- 
tion, and in such a manner ? ” 

Nancy drew close to the Captain’s side, as she 
tossed her head disdainfully, “ I am the lady this 
gentleman will marry.” 

Betty’s eyes opened in wonder, as she recalled 


BETTY PEACH. 


73 


her Grandfather’s injunctions, addressed to her 
that very morning, and a feeling of utmost relief 
came to her. 

But her attention was again directed to the 
stranger, who laughed slightly, and said to Nancy, 
“ Let me assure you, whoever you are, that you 
will find some difficulty in becoming the lawful 
wife of that ‘ gentleman,’ as you be pleased to 
call him.” 

“ What do you mean ? Who are you ? ” Nancy 
demanded, but with her chin raised less loftily 
than before. 

“ Who I am, will tell you what I mean, girl,” 
the other answered, with sudden fierceness. “ I 
am this villain’s lawful, wedded wife ! ” 

Nancy started back with a scream, and Betty’s 
mouth opened wide in amazement and consterna- 
tion, while Mistress Robey drew near to her guest, 
as though fearing for her safety. 

Betty was the first to recover herself, and, with 
the instinct of true womanhood, she, for the nonce, 
lost sight of her own troubles, in the sight of the 
humiliation that had come upon another, even 
though this other were one who had done her so 
grievous an injury. And so she came and stood 
beside Nancy, who now turned to Captain 


74 


BETTY PEACH. 


Rathborn, and cried, almost hysterically, “ Speak, 
sir ? Be this woman telling truth ! Say that 
what she said does be false ! ” 

The man, scoundrel that he was, turned from 
her, making no reply. But the lady spoke again, 
disregarding Mistress Robey’s entreaties that she 
should return to the Inn with her ; and her mam 
ner was much calmer than before, as she said, 
“ That, he dare not say, for I have those with me 
who can prove my words.” 

She had scarcely finished, when the Captain 
turned upon her in a perfect fury of rage. 

“ D n you for a whey-faced, interloping 

meddler,” he cried, and advanced, as though to 
strike her ; but Mistress Robey interposed her 
robust arm and pushed him back. 

Poor Nancy had now all the answer she re- 
quired, and bursting into tears, she caught hold 
of Betty, and dragged her away with her, as she 
sobbed, “ Come, Betty — come ye home with me.” 

Soft-hearted Betty, her head in a whirl, but 
with her heart full of compassion for her fallen 
foe, readily complied. They were soon locked 
in Nancy’s own room, and then she heard, with 
mingled satisfaction and sorrow, the contrite 
confession the wretched girl poured forth, as to 


BETTY PEACH. 


75 


her share in the ills which had befallen Dan. 

Nancy told how she had lured him to visit 
her the night before, by a false message regard- 
ing a cargo her father wished to ship in his 
charge, claiming that she had been led to do 
do this by the Captain’s promise of marriage, and 
his assurance that for his, ( the Captain’s ) own 
safety, Dan must be gotten out of the way, and 
kept prisoner for a few days or weeks, as the case 
might be. And though Nancy did not confess to 
it, Betty well knew that the jealousy incited by 
seeing Dan conversing so earnestly with herself 
that afternoon, had also prompted her to take 
part in this vile plot. 

“ And oh, Betty ! promise me ye’ll never, never 
tell,” Nancy said, between her sobs, having com- 
pleted her confession. “ For should Father come 
to know o’ this when he returns, I think he’ll 
kill me.” 

“ He will never know more than will other 
folk, unless ye tell yourself,” Betty replied, 
calmly. “ I will never speak o’ the matter.” 

“Not even to Dan? Oh, promise me ye’ll 
never tell Dan ; ” and Nancy’s hot hands clutched 
Betty’s cool little fingers, as she sat on the bed 
beside her. 


7 6 


BETTY PEACH. 


Betty hesitated a moment before replying, and 
her red mouth quivered, as she said, “ Nancy, I 
mayhap, may ne’er see Dan again, in this world, 
to tell him aught.” 

“Betty! Betty! Nancy cried in an agonized 
voice, “ Ye don’t mean to have me believe they 
have done harm to Dan ? Oh, Heavens ! An’ 
I thought that , I’d jump into the sea ! ” And 
the girl raised her miserable self from the pillow, 
and glared wildly out of the window, where the 
daylight was growing golden with the sunset. 

“ By to-morrow, I will come an’ tell ye, I think,” 
Betty said ; and her voice was very low, and 
tears glittered in her eyes. 

“Whatd‘ye mean?” Nancy cried, feverishly. 
“ Do ye know where to find him ? ” There was, 
even now, a note of jealousy in her tone ; and 
Betty, taking heed of this, looked at her coldly 
for a moment before replying. 

“No, I don’t,” she said,” “ But I know those 
who think they do ; an’ by to-morrow I shall 
know for surety.” 

“ An’ will ye truly come an’ tell me ? ” 

“ Yes, I promise ye I will, else send Billy.” 

“An’ ye will never, never tell aught that I 
have told ye?” “No!” Betty said with decision. 


BETTY PEACH. 


77 


“Not e’en Dan, when ye see him — an’ ye see 
him?” 

Betty hesitated, and the other girl, watching 
with hungry anxiety the sweet face beside her, 
now marvelled to see a strange light, as if from a 
new-born self within, illuminating every soft, 
girlish feature. It seemed to lose its childish 
look, and to become womanly. 

Betty was seeming to hear a voice, repeating 
to her those words, so full of promised blessings, 
from the Sermon on the Mount. And it told 
her, that if she forgave and protected Nancy, 
God would more surely keep her lover safe, and 
so answer her passionate prayers. The thought 
brought to her a heavenly peace, as though an 
angel were passing ; and this it was that Nancy 
saw, and which, shallow and flippant as was her 
nature, she recognized by intuition. 

“ Yes, I will promise faithfully, never to tell 
e’en Dan,” and Betty’s voice sounded afar off, and 
her eyes looked out through the window, out 
over the far-stretching purple sea, where her 
gaze rested as though entranced. 

“ Bless ye, Betty ! I’ll do anything for ye, 
after this ! ” Nancy cried as she kissed the other 
girl’s hand. “ I wish I was as good as ye be.” 


78 


BETTY PEACH. 


Nancy’s excited words and manner seemed to 
arouse the other, and hastily withdrawing her 
hand, she said she must be getting home. 

“ Wait a moment ’till I show ye somewhat,” 
said Nancy, hurriedly. And she arose from the 
bed, a rather dishevelled mess of bright finery 
and touselled yellow hair, her eyes red and swol- 
len, the bright color diffused generously all over 
her pretty face. 

Crossing the room, she went to a tall chest of 
drawers upon the other side, and took from it a 
leather box, which she brought over to Betty, 
who now stood leaning against the window. 

Nancy lifted the lid of the box and the light 
struck fiery sparkles from the jewels of a gold 
bracelet, lying in cotton-wool, inside. Then she 
took it from its resting place, and turned it about, 
so as to catch the light. 

“ See ? ” she exclaimed, “ See how fine ! Cap- 
tain Rathborn gave it me last time he was down 
from Boston. I want to give it ye, Betty, so that 
we be always friends hereafter. ’Twill look 
finer than ever on your pretty arm,” and as she 
spoke, she clasped it about Betty’s dimpled wrist. 

Betty drew herself up proudly, and unfasten- 
ing the bracelet, she handed it back, saying, u I’d 


BETTY PEACH. 


79 


as lief have a 4 rattler ’ ’bout my wrist, consider- 
ing whence the bauble came. An’ see ye, Nancy, 
my promise ’ll not be more faithful kept for a 
gift being betwixt us, than though there be 
none.” 

Nancy looked a bit abashed, but, withal, re- 
lieved, as she took the glittering bracelet and 
clasped it around her own white arm, saying } 
“So be it. Ye were ever a queer one, Betty, 
but ye be good ; I wish I were as much so.” 

“Ye’ve as much cause to be good as ever I 
had,” Betty answered, rather primly. “ An’ now 
hinder me no more,” she added. “Grand’ther 
will be angry, I fear me, an’ I’m late.” And she 
was soon speeding toward the old Squire’s house, 
her ears bearing a last earnest appeal from Nancy } 
that she should not forget about sending word to 
her next day, as to Dan’s safety. 


CHAPTER V. 


In the dining-room at Squire Peach’s house, 
the shadows had grown dark, and the night, 
coming black against the glass, made a mirror of 
each pane, as Betty, crouching in one of the big 
window-seats, gazed out seaward. With a grate- 
ful heart, she watched the darkness gather, and 
yet there was a sense of great dread upon her, as 
of some unknown danger menacing either Dan 
or herself. And this feeling was not lessened by 
the fact of her being alone in the house, except- 
ing that Cata was in the kitchen ; for the Squire 
had not yet returned, and Billy was also abroad, 
where, she did not know. 

The tall Dutch clock ticked loudly ; a solitary 
cricket was piping its contented song somewhere 
about the loose stones of the old hearth ; while 
now and then the vine without, tapped upon the 
panes with ghostly fingers ; and above them all, 


BETTY PEACH. 


8l 


coming in a dull monotone, was the sound of the 
sea. 

The clock now chimed out the hour of seven, 
and each stroke seemed to fall upon the girl’s 
senses like the strokes of the hammer upon an 
anvil ; while old Cata came hurrying in from 
the kitchen to peer in its face by the aid of the 
dim candlelight, as though disbelieving her ears. 

“ Seven o’ the clock, Honey ! Where d’ye s’pose 
yer Grand’ ther be? His fish be dryin’ away to 
chips in de oven, an’ he’ll ’mos’ kill Cata when 
she sets it afore him. I’se glad we’s got de cold 
joint in de house.” 

The girl made no reply ; nor did any move- 
ment assure the old negress that her young mis- 
tress was conscious of her presence. 

u Does ye sleep, Honey ? ” she said, anxiously, 
after waiting a moment. 

“No, Cata,” came in Betty’s sweet voice from 
the darkened window-seat. 

“ Be ye lonesome ? ” 

“No. Why should I be ? ” And Betty turned 
her head and looked at the old servant. 

“ Ye was so still, — dat’s all,” Cata explained. 
Then, with much anxiety, “D’ye ’spose de 
joint’ll satisfy de Squire ? ” 


82 


BETTY PEACH. 


“Yes, yes,” her young mistress said, rather 
impatiently. “ Set it before him, an’ say noth- 
ing o’ the fish.” 

“ As ye say, Honey, as ye say ; ye always 
knows de bestest t’ing to do ;” and Cata made her 
way back to her own domain. 

And now the sky was brimming with stars 
down to the very ocean’s edge, that ran like a 
dark wall across the horizon. Betty looked 
up to Jupiter, set like an emerald among the 
gold-dust-like scattering of lesser stars, as her 
young heart prayed, “ Oh, God, let me find Dan 
this night ! Let me find him safe — unharmed ! ” 

Half past seven came, and she was still alone, 
for neither her Grandfather or Billy had returned. 
And now the time had come to set forth for the 
lighthouse, where she knew Ben was waiting for 
her to join him in the quest for Dan Marr. 

She could muster little in the way of appetite • 
but appreciating the necessity of sustaining her 
strength, and not knowing to what test it might 
be subjected, she ate as much supper as she could, 
and then, wrapping herself warmly, in anticipa- 
tion of her long trip in the open boat, she stole 
out, and sped away, keeping to the most unfre- 
quented paths. 


BETTY PEACH. 


83 


As she hurried along, she noticed what seemed 
an unusual commotion in the village ; for she 
could look across the fields as the sounds came 
to her. She saw many lights coming and going 
in various directions, but all she could do was to 
pass along, wondering what it all signified. 

All was quiet about the old wharf, a darker 
lump of shadow denoting the craft made fast to 
its great iron rings, while farther out on the 
black waters of the harbor the two recently 
arrived ships loomed, phantom-like, their huge 
proportions scarcely determinable through the 
darkness. 

The fresh wind, damp with the night, flashed 
into her face ; and the spray, cold breath of the 
sea, everything about her, yes, — the very air itself, 
seemed to the girl fraught with some great, soon- 
to-be-realized event. 

She found Ben already waiting for her. He had 
grumbled a bit at first at the idea of taking Betty 
with him, but his wife, with her wonted master- 
fulness, had overcome all his objections, and he 
was in the best of humors when the girl arrived. 

They lost no time in getting started, for there 
was no moon, and the wind was favorable for a 
tolerably speedy run down to Gull Rock. And 


8 4 


BETTY PEACH. 


so they were soon on their way over the precipi- 
tous thread of a path that lay across the mass of 
jagged rocks, to a sandy beach below, shut away 
on all sides from the village, and looking directly 
out to the open sea, where the boat was waiting 
for them. And as they walked along, Meg told 
Betty of the basket of food and liquor already 
stored in the boat, as well as a goodly supply of 
warm, wraps. Indeed it seemed as though the 
kind, thoughtful soul had forgotten nothing nec- 
essary for the girl’s comfort, or that would be 
useful in restoring Dan’s strength, after his long 
fast. 

She warned them unceasingly of the danger of 
showing a light upon the water, and was full of 
suggestions looking to their safety. She stood 
on the beach, with her lantern wrapped partially 
about by the folds of her cloak, as they pushed 
off, taking with them her “Godspeed.” 

“ Here ye are, my hearty,” said Ben, jocosely, 
as, a few minutes later, he assisted his young 
companion aboard the sailboat. “ I take it ye 
have ye’r ship’s papers signed an’ sealed most 
proper ; and he was still chuckling to himself 
when he took his seat in the stern. 

The little craft at once shook out her sails, 


BETTY PEACH. 


85 


and sped away into the darkness before the strong 
breeze. Betty, looking about her, felt herself to 
be a very small atom upon the great inky sea, 
with the night skies star-set overhead. 

“ D’ye feel fearsome, Mistress?” Ben asked, 
after a time. But the girl assured him that she felt 
perfectly safe and comfortable ; and this seemed 
to relieve his mind. 

“ Aye,” he muttered, as though to himself, 
“ ’Tis a brave heart, an’ a true heart. The Lord 
helps all such for a surety ; for they be o’ His 
own making.” And nothing more was said by 
either. 

In an hour’s time or less, the black mass of 
Gull Rock lifted itself from the dark floor of the 
ocean upon their right. Altering his course by 
only a trifle, Ben steered directly for it. When 
within a hundred yards, he let go the anchor, 
and then, after depositing Betty carefully in the 
small rowboat, he pulled for the rock with a 
rapidity and assurance indicating more than one 
nocturnal visit. 

“ ’Tis helpful for our work, Mistress,” he said, 
as his strong arms sent the boat speeding through 
the black water, “ that the task we be on, came 
this week ; for next, by now, the moon’d be 


86 


BETTY PEACH. 


shinin’ bright o’er our heads. Ye see, for what 
we have to do, the darker, the safer.” His gruff 
voice was pitched very low, as he helped her out 
of the boat and made it fast ; then he fumbled a 
minute for the horn lantern. 

“ Are ye sure ye have the tinder box to make 
light, once we be within the cave ? ” Betty asked, 
nervously clasping his strong arm, as she let him 
lead her up among the rocks, where a rude path- 
way seemed to have been cut. 

“ Aye, I have,” he replied. “ Never ye fear but 
Meg have thought all things out careful. An’ 
now, Mistress, remember, that ye never tell 
soul, all ye’r life, o’ aught ye may find out ’bout the 
place.” He spoke with much earnestness, and 
thanked her in his rude way when she eagerly 
gave him the asked-for assurance. 

Presently the path they had been slowly and 
carefully climbing began to descend, and twist 
about. Then the girl, her eyes strained to see 
all she could in the ‘gloom about them, began to 
realize that a darker mass than the night which 
surrounded them, was beginning to steal over 
her head, blotting out all the stars. They were 
within the cave, Ben now pausing to light the 
lantern, a task performed by him with slow, 


BETTY PEACH. 


87 


clumsy elaboration, accompanied by much heavy 
breathing. And now was shown Betty’s eager 
face, her great dark eyes having an expression as 
though they would never cease to look and won- 
der. Old Ben’s sturdy form and kindly face were 
also revealed, and as Betty’s eyes fell upon him 
he seemed to her like a guardian angel, albeit 
his sanctity was arrayed in a long, loose pea- 
jacket, leather knee-breeches, worsted upper gar- 
ments, knit woolen stockings, and great leather 
shoes. 

All about them lay jugs, bottles and flasks, of 
various sizes and shapes. Betty glanced at these 
with fear in her face, which was increased to 
dread, as her eyes sought the furthermost bales, 
lying away where the shadows lurked darkest, 
for these were to her horribly suggestive of pros- 
trate human forms. 

Seeming to surmise her thought, old Ben said, 
softly, “ Master Dan won’t be here, my pretty ; 
’twill be in another cave beyond this. Here be 
the way in.” 

As he spoke, they had come to a stout oaken 
door, doubly barred, and set into the rock with 
rough, clumsy hinges. Giving Betty the lantern 
to hold, Ben proceeded to draw the bars ; then,. 


88 


BETTY PEACH. 


laying hold of an iron ring, he pulled with all 
his strength. But the door opened only a very 
little way — a mere crack, being manifestly made 
fast on the inner side. 

Ben swore softly, and under his breath ; then 
pausing a moment to wipe the moisture from his 
face, he said to Betty, as he took the lantern, 
“ He be surely within here, my pretty. They’d 
never take such care else to make the door fast 
in such way. Ye see, it be made fast on t’other 
side with a rope, belike. Then they crawled out 
the hole that lets out from t’other cave to the 
sea. It be such a snug fit that way, one must leave 
skin an’ clothes behind amost, to get through it. 
They must ’a’ been well paid, the cutthroats, to 
work so hard.” 

“ What be it ye will do now, Ben ? ” Betty 
asked, showing much anxiety ; for the old fellow, 
having set the lantern on a rock near by, had 
taken a murderous-looking knife from his pocket, 
and was proceeding to enlarge a small hole which 
appeared in the door before them. 

“ I be making this hole big enough, Mistress, 
to get my fist through, with a bit o’ fire in it ; 
then I’ll burn in two the rope that I think does 
be holding the door fast on t’other side.” 


BETTY PEACH. 


89 


Betty waited beside him with what patience 
she could, as she glanced fearfully about, and 
strained her ears to catch any sound of approach- 
ing footsteps. But she heard nothing, — not the 
slightest sound broke the deathlike silence that 
lay about them with the darkness , save the 
labored breathing of Ben, as he hacked fiercely 
at the door with his knife. 

At length, deeming the hole of sufficient size, 
he took a piece of wood from the litter upon the 
floor, and lit it, torch-like. Then, thrusting one 
hand through the hole, he groped about to ascer- 
tain the exact position of the rope which he knew 
was holding the door fast ; and as his fingers 
encountered it, a grim smile touched his lips. 

“ Ah — ha ! So I thought,” he ejaculated, in 
a tone of great satisfaction. Then, pushing in 
the burning wood, he set the rope afire, as was 
speedily shown by the sudden light that sprang 
up from the other side, touching brightly the 
splinters about the jagged aperture. 

“ Oh, Ben ; do ye call now, an’ see an’ he be 
there,” Betty said, her voice full of entreaty. 
The old man complied, and thrusting his lips as 
far as possible through the opening, he called 
Dan by name, — softly at first, — and then louder. 


9 o 


BETTY PEACH. 


“Who be ye?” came to them faintly from 
within. 

“ Lord o’ compassion ! He be there ! Master 
Dan be in there my pretty Mistress,” exclaimed 
Ben, appearing to awake to new excitement. 

Betty said nothing, but laid hold of the great 
iron ring with her own little fingers, and tugged 
at it with might and main, as though her slight 
strength would suffice to pull open the heavy door. 

But at length the rope yielding, the girl rushed 
into the darkness of the inner cave, her agitated 
skirts fanning into brightness the smouldering 
hemp, as she flew past. Ben followed with the 
lantern, stamping out the sparks as he went by. 

More bales, casks and debris were piled up 
here upon the sandy floor ; and away over in a 
far corner, where the rocky walls, running sharply 
together, made a narrow corner, huddled in a 
dark cloak, which, falling apart, showed him to 
be hobbled with a chain from wrists to ankles, 
lying prone upon the sand, was Dan Marr ! 

Betty was the first to see him, as with a wild cry 
that went echoing through the place, she flew to 
where he was lying ; and falling upon her knees, 
she wrapped her soft arms about his throat, 
as she hid her face in his breast. 


BETTY PEACH. 


91 


“ Betty ! Betty ! My own dear little maid ! ’’ 
he cried, as he rained kisses on the dark curly 
head lying close to his face. u My own little 
girl ! ’Tis worth being laid here by the heels, I 
vow, to know ye love me as much as this.” 

“Ye be not hurt?” she cried, drawing back 
her head to peer anxiously into his face, as he 
raised himself. 

“ Not I, sweetheart, save in feelings ; but e’en 
that smart be o’er for me, since I have ye in my 
arms,” and he softly kissed her eyes and cheeks, 
where a shower of tears was beginning to rain. 

Old Ben, who stood staring at them, his rugged 
face expressive of the greatest sympathy, now 
spoke up. “ Hearken ye, Master Dan ! This 
be the time to do ! All the sayin’ an’ talkin’ 
should come later. My own little craft be wait- 
ing for us outside ; let’s up an’ away, afore the 
bloody cutthroats come ’mong us.” 

“ Ben does be right,” said Dan ; and Betty, 
still clasping his hands, sprang to her feet, and 
essayed to draw him up with her. But he said, 
“ Wait a bit, — wait a bit, little sweetheart. Here, 
Ben, ye’ll have to get the chain off, afore I can 
stand.” 

Ben, who seemed to be provided for every 


92 


BETTY PEACH. 


contingency, took from his pocket a hammer, 
and in a few minutes the chain fell clanking, 
and Dan stood up, stamping his benumbed feet. 
“ Lead away now, Ben, my man,” Dan exclaimed, 
cheerfully, “ an’ we’ll follow. But I’m wonder- 
ing however it was that ye got here, or knew to 
come, an’ most wonderful o’ all, to have Betty 
with ye.” And he put his strong arm around 
the childish form and drew her to him. 

“ Oh, Dan, let’s haste,” she cried. “ Let’s 
haste from this terrible place afore Adam or some 
o’ them come back.” 

“ ’Twas he I thought had come when I heard 
Ben at the door,” said Dan, looking down at her. 
“ An’ I made sure ’twas to put an end to the dirty 
work by murdering me. But ’twould be well, I 
trow, to be ready now for the rascals, an’ we 
meet them. This be better than empty hands,” 
and as he spoke he picked up a large, sharp- 
edged rock. 

“ I’ve thought o’ all that, Master,” Ben said, 
quietly ; and he held out a murderous- 
looking dirk-knife, which the other grasped 
eagerly in one hand, as he clasped Betty’s small 
fingers with the other. 

And so, side by side, they followed in the 


BETTY PEACH. 


93 


wake of the old man, who extinguished the lan- 
tern as soon as they stood outside under the 
stars, with the moaning black sea all about them. 

They were soon aboard, the little craft speed- 
ing landward, with Ben at the helm, and the 
other two sitting close together, wrapped about 
with Dan’s big cloak, — the same he had been 
wound and bound in the night before, when 
his captors carried him so closely to Betty and 
her companion, and they had thought him a bale 
of smuggled merchandise. Dan, faint with hun- 
ger, needed no light but the stars, to find the way 
to his mouth with the viands which Meg had 
sent, and which the girl, with motherly solicitude, 
now urged upon him. 

As he ate, she recounted briefly all that had 
befallen since their parting the previous after- 
noon, only that she refrained carefully from any 
mention of Nancy Harris’ name. Bad words 
escaped Dan when she told of the conversation 
she had overheard between her Grandfather and 
Captain Rathborn ; but they were silenced by 
the pressure of the soft little hand that was laid 
over his wrathful lips. He kissed it, and then 
asked, quietly, “ But ye’d never consent to marry 
that scoundrel, Betty?” 


94 


BETTY PEACH. 


It did not take her long to give him all the 
assurance he desired ; and then she told him of 
the strange lady, and what she had said, and he 
was silent with amazement. 

And now Betty, with a desire to protect her 
Grandfather, said, “ Now, Dan, when Grand- 
’ther comes to know o’ this, he will in no wise 
hearken to the wicked Captain, nor let me be 
plagued more.” 

But Dan responded fiercely, “ He’d best not, 
or he’ll have a heavy reckoning to settle with 
Dan Marr ; an’ this he may have yet, for ye see, 
sweetheart, I’ve felt an’ seen your Grand’ther’s 
hand in all the black business o’ my own.” 

Betty could say nothing to contradict him, but 
she leaned her head against the broad shoulder 
nearest her, and trailed her small fingers softly 
about his throat, as she said, imploringly, “ Aye, 
but for all that, Dan, ye’d ne’er do aught to harm 
Grandfather. Ye must promise me that.” 

“There be little ye could ask this night that 
I’d not promise, but — we’ll wait a bit an’ see.” 
Then, after a pause, “ An’ I don’t fancy being 
hid away behind Meg’s petticoats, like a wrong- 
doing scamp, I tell ye.” 

“ Well, well, — we’ll just wait and see the 


BETTY PEACH. 


95 


morrow,” Betty said, in a pacifying tone. “ Only, 
for the night, Dan, ye’ll surely do as Meg said.” 

He turned and looked into her eyes, lifted so 
pleadingly to his own, in the dim light ; then he 
bent and kissed her. 

“ For the night, an’ for the morning, sweet- 
heart, it shall be as ye say,” he said, his face 
losing its hard expression. “Surely, after the 
risks ye’ve run for me, I’d be a dog, to give that 
little heart more matter to trouble o’er.” And 
so the question was settled. 

Swiftly the little craft was speeding to 
the land, before the ever freshening breeze, 
for the night was wearing itself away into a 
gathering storm. The sea had become “ broken,” 
as sailors call it, with a mightier force of falling 
waters. 

The breakers were dashing against the light- 
house rocks, and sending hollow murmurings up 
among the many fissures running, cavern-like, 
into and under the ledges, when Ben at last 
beached the rowboat. 

The faithful Meg was waiting for them, having 
been crouched amid the rocks for an hour past. 
She had startling news for them. Bijah had, 
shortly before, returned from the village, and re- 


9 6 


BETTY PEACH. 


ported a great commotion amongst the people, 
caused by the arrest of several persons who were 
accused of belonging to the smuggling band. 
It was said that Captain Rathborn had ordered 
the soldiers down, and had told them the names 
of the guilty persons. Neither Adam nor Peter 
could be found, and no one had seen or knew of 
the Squire’s whereabouts. 

When Betty had heard all this, a new fear 
assailed her, and she exclaimed, “ I must go home 
directly.” 

“ And I will take ye, my little maid,” and Dan 
was striding away by her side. 

The girl paused, “ Oh, Dan, had ye best go ? I 
am not fearful. I have gone the way alone, at 
night, many’s the time, as Meg knows.” 

“Those did be times when I was not by, Betty ; 
but now I am by ye, an’ ye’ll never go at night 
alone, more,” Dan said, with an air of authority. 

“ But ’tis not wise,” insisted Betty. u Some 
o’ them might see ye, then, mayhap, they’d take 
ye with the rest.” 

“ I have Ben’s knife ’bout me, an’ I’d have a 
word to say to that,” he replied, in nowise con- 
vinced. 

And now old Ben spoke up. “ Ye’d better let 


BETTY PEACH. 


97 


the lad go, Mistress,” he said, “ I’ll go, too. An’ 
then no harm can befall, for a surety.” 

“That be right, Ben,” exclaimed Meg. “ ’Tis 
not right for Mistress Betty to go ’cross fields 
alone.” 

The girl was obliged to yield, and bidding 
Meg good night, was soon on her way home, 
walking between her stalwart protectors. When 
they reached the Squire’s place, Ben waited at 
the garden wall, while Dan went in with Betty. 
They passed noiselessly under the trees, and soon 
stood beneath her window. Pausing a moment, 
the girl turned to him, saying in a whisper, 
“ Now, Dan, ye’ll go back to Meg, as ye promised, 
an’ keep in hiding ’till I come in the morning.” 

“ Aye, I promised, an’ I’ll keep my word,” he 
answered in a low voice, at the same time put- 
ting his arms about her, and straining her close 
to his heart, where her little head just reached. 
Then he laughed softly, lifting her, as though 
she were a small child, and placed her far up in 
the branches of the apricot tree. 

“Aye,” he said as he let go of her. “But ye 
be a brave, sweet little girl, an’ surely have no 
need o’ doors an’ stairs. An’ now be sure ye 
come to me at an early hour o’ the morning, for 


9 8 


BETTY PEACH. 


I’ll be lonesome without ye, my own sweetheart.” 

She paused and looked down into his up- 
turned face as she whispered anxiously, “ Ye’ll 
wait ’till I come, Dan, be it early or late ? ” 

“ Did’nt I promise ye, sweetheart,” he replied. 
“ O’ a certainty I’ll wait for ye, an’ it be all 
day.” 

“ I’ll not keep ye so long as all that,” Betty 
said, with a soft laugh. Now go ye quietly back 
with Ben, an’ — good night.” 

“Good night, sweetheart,” he returned, and 
moved away ; but paused a moment in the 
shadow of the trees to look back and watch her 
little form as it made its way swiftly, and noise- 
less as a shadow, up through the branches of 
the tree. He laughed to himself, softly and 
happily, as he saw it disappear through the win- 
dow, which was instantly closed, and the white 
curtain dropped across the panes. And then he 
rejoined Ben, and they started to return to the 
lighthouse. 

All that Meg had heard was true. Filled with 
fear, as well as rage, at the miscarriage of his 
plans, Captain Rathborn, alarmed lest his military 
honors should be endangered, and thinking to 
make a virtue of necessity, had put his soldiers in 


BETTY PEACH. 


99 


possession of such facts as were necessary to bring 
about the arrests. At the same time, however, he 
took good care to warn Adam, Peter and the 
Squire of the impending danger, so that they 
might take such measures as they saw fit to in- 
sure their own safety, knowing that by doing 
this, they would take flight, and so be removed 
from his own path. 

Ben and Dan, after leaving the Squire’s house, 
had not gone very far along the highway when 
they heard the sound of swift footsteps ; and stop- 
ping to listen, there came to them the hard breath- 
ing of the runner, who was coming toward 
them. 

“ Have the knife in hand, Master,” Ben whis- 
pered, hoarsely, as he drew Dan to one side of 
the roadway. And then the flying form came 
close to them, and they saw it was a lad of four- 
teen or thereabouts. 

Ben stretched out his hand and caught him, 
putting his other hand, knife and all, over the 
boy’s mouth to stay the cry to which he at- 
tempted to give vent. 

“ Be this ye, Sammy Holmes ? ” the old man 
exclaimed, looking closely at the boy. 

“Aye, that it be,” answered the lad faintly, 


IOO 


BETTY PEACH. 


when the big hand was removed from his mouth, 
although Ben still held his arm by a firm grip. 

“ ’Tis Master Ben, be it?” queried the boy in 
his turn, and in *a tone of relief. 

“ Aye, ’tis me, goin’ home from the fishin’, Sam- 
my — me an’ my mate, here. We had to land on 
Squire’s beach, down below, ”Ben answered, reas- 
suringly, deeming it wise, in the interests of safety, 
to prevaricate a little. “ But what ails ye, boy, 
to be running a race with yeself down the King’s 
highway at this hour o’ the night? Have ye 
seen a ghost, or what have scared ye ? ” 

“ Aye, mayhap ’twas a ghost ; I don’t know,” 
the boy replied, in a tone filled with terror. “ I 
was sound asleep in my bunk up at inn, an’ 
a man all wrapped in a big black cloak came 
an’ shook me by shoulder. I could not see his 
face. ‘ Up an’ away, boy, or I’ll cut out ye’re 
heart. Run, run,’ he said, “ or the devil’ll catch 
ye, an’ ye don’t get to Squire Peach an’ bid 
him up an’ away, for the soldiers be cornin’ to 
hang him.’ An’ so I up an’ ran ; an’ that’s all I 
can tell ye, Master Ben. An’ now let me run on, 
will ye?” And Sammy began to whimper. 

Ben said nothing, but released the boy, who 
sped away, and was swallowed up in the darkness. 


BETTY PEACH. 


IOI 


Ben then turned to Dan, who had remained 
silent all this time. “What be to do now, Mas- 
ter Dan ? ” he asked. 

“ Come back with me,” was the quickly spoken 
reply, “we must tell Betty, an’ get her away. 
We cannot leave her there with the rough 
soldiers coming on the place.” 

Ben acquiesced, and they made their way back 
as rapidly as possible. Leaping the wall, they 
soon stood beneath Betty’s window, and after a 
handful of gravel had been thrown against the 
glass, the sash was raised and the girl’s little 
dark head thrust out into the night. She had 
been sitting on the side of her bed, in the dark, 
busy with her own thoughts, and had made no 
movement as yet toward retiring. 

“ Dan ? ” she asked, rather than said, in a tone 
of alarm. “ Whatever be amiss ? ” 

“Are ye dressed, little maid?” he asked 
abruptly. 

“ Yes, yes,” she replied. “ What is’t? ” 

“ Don’t ye tarry to speak another word,” Dan 
said. “ But rouse Billy, an’ haste ye both to 
come with Ben an’ me to the lighthouse, where 
Meg will take care o’ ye. Quick, quick, my own 
little maid, for the soldiers be coming.” 


102 


BETTY PEACH. 


u I may warn Grand’ther, Dan ? ” 

“No, no,” he cried, more loudly than she cared 
to hear him, and stamping his foot impatiently, 
“ Another be gone to do that, an’ better than can 
ye. Do ye hasten, sweetheart, — hasten, I tell ye. 
Get Billy, an’ come quick, — quick ! ” 

His tone gave terror to her haste, and in a few 
moments both she and Billy were descending the 
tree, the boy, who came first, springing nimbly 
from the branches a few feet from the last gnarled 
foothold. But Dan caught Betty in his arms be- 
fore she had gotten so far, and swung her to the 
ground beside him, clasping her small hands 
tightly, as he said, breathlessly, “ Now run, all 
o’ us, — run ! And away the four dark forms sped, 
across the garden and to the road, which, after 
going a short distance, they turned from, taking 
to the fields. 

As they crossed the salt marshes, where the 
village came into plainer view, the rushing storm 
blast brought fitfully to their ears the steady 
tramp of soldiers’ feet along the highway. 

“ Will they get Grand’ther, Bett ? ” Billy 
whispered, pressing closely against her side, as 
she stood listening, her cloak streaming out before 
her in the blast, and Dan’s strong arm about her. 


BETTY PEACH. 


io 3 

“ Nay, my lad,” Ben said, answering the ques- 
tion for the girl, — “ Sammy Holmes carried the 
warning to him straight enoug’, an’ the old 
man’s had plenty o’ time to get out o’ the way. 
He’ll take to the boat, belike, an’ mayhap sail 
’round to the lighthouse.” 

Dan felt Betty shiver as these words came to 
her ears, and he bent over and kissed her cheek, 
as he said, u The old man will be friends enoug’, 
sweetheart, — never ye fear. He’s cornered, so 
an’ he’ll have to take us, an’ our ways, for friends, 
whether or no ; never ye doubt that.” 

Old Cata, who fled for safety to the lighthouse, 
told them how the soldiers battered in the doors 
of the house, and pillaged the place, turning the 
well ordered rooms inside out in their search for 
their victim. It would have been a sorry chance 
for the old Squire, had he fallen into their hands, 
for graver charges than that of smuggling had 
been laid at his door, and he had few, if any, 
friends, or well-wishers amongst his townfolk. 

Failing to find the "Squire, the redcoats had, in 
their rage, set fire to the house, which was en- 
tirely consumed ; and so, when the morning 
broke, nothing save charred timbers was left of 
what had been the home of Betty and little Billy. 


CHAPTER VI. 


When morning came, the two ships lay at 
anchor still farther out in the harbor ; and the 
small boats pulled up on deck, together with the 
restless moving about of red, where the sol- 
diers’ uniforms gleamed like threatening fires, 
showed the Britishers were on the alert to 
guard against any surprise in the way of an at- 
tempt at vengeance on the part of the folk on 
shore. 

The inmates of the lighthouse, — all except 
Billy and old Cata, had passed a sleepless night ; 
and at the first breaking of the day, Ben went 
into the village, making an errand at the Pine Tree 
an excuse for gathering whatever information he 
could for himself and others. 

Poor little Betty had a hard time of it, per- 
suading Dan to forego his determination to 
accompany the old man ; but both Ben and Meg 
joining their entreaties to her own, the hot- 


BETTY PEACH. 


105 

headed young sailor was finally induced to re- 
main in hiding, — at least until Ben should have 
returned and reported as to what he had learned. 

Down in a cosy cleft of the rocks, shut in 
about with frowning granite, except directly in 
front, where the open sea stretched, purple and 
peacefully before them, Betty and Dan were sit- 
ting, with Billy close at hand, busy at whittling 
a clumsy little boat from a small block of wood, 
and whistling softly as he worked. 

The bright sunshine lay like a kind of happy 
laughter over the sea and land, and not a sound 
disturbed the silence save Billy’s low whistling 
and the lapping of the water far beneath them, 
at the base of the rock pile. 

The horrors and surprises of the night before 
seemed like bad dreams, — something unreal, by 
contrast with the present peace and harmony all 
around them. But for poor little Betty it was a 
sort of bitter-sweet, made up of her surround- 
ings and misgivings. It was very sweet to have 
Dan, rescued and safe, alongside her, but — what 
might not happen to him, if the redcoats per- 
sisted in their search for smugglers? And in 
this, and against Dan Marr in particular, she 
was sure Captain Rathborn’s vindictiveness would 


io6 


BETTY PEACH. 


spur them on, if indeed they needed any incen- 
tive in the pursuit. 

And her Grandfather, — she wondered where 
he was, and how faring? He had always, to 
be sure, been a hard and unloving parent to 
her ; and yet there was in her generous, right- 
minded heart, a filial, instinctive love for him as 
her relative, despite his harshness to herself and 
Billy, — to say nothing of crimes she guessed at, 
rather than actually knew about. 

Thinking of all these things, she presently 
broke the long silence by asking, — “ D’ye think 
Grand’ther may be safe, Dan? ” 

He had been looking at the little hand he held 
in both his own, while he played with her fin- 
gers ; and he almost laughed aloud as the thought 
came to him how ridiculously small it was to be 
called the hand of a woman. As he did not re- 
ply immediately, the slender fingers tightened 
with a sudden grip about his own big brown 
ones, causing him to stop and look at her, as she 
repeated, more earnestly, “Do ye, Dan?” 

“ O’ course, — yes,” he answered, somewhat 
lamely, and a scowl came to darken his hand- 
some brows ; for he was by no means in a forgiv- 
ing mood with the rascally old Squire, of whose 


BKTTY PEACH. 


107 


blackness of heart he was well aware he knew, 
far more than did the old man’s immediate fam- 
ily. 

“ D’ye think they’ve got him on the ships, 
Dan?” Billy asked, looking up with sudden 
interest ; “ An’ they have, I’d like to go see him, 
an’ get a look at them. I was never aboard such 
big, brave ships.” 

“ Oh, Billy, — never think o’ such a thing,” 
Betty exclaimed, in a new fright, her intuition 
taking alarm from the speculative interest she 
detected in the boy’s tone. 

“ Why not ? ” he asked, — and the query had 
rather a rebellious undertone. “ Why not, Bett ? 
I’d get to see an’ Grand’ther be there or no ; an’ see 
the ships an’ soldiers. Then I could come back 
an’ tell ye.” 

“ But they wouldn’t let ye come back, Billy ; 
they’d carry ye off to Boston an’ I might never 
find ye more.” The girl clasped her hands as 
though in supplication, and there was a sound of 
tears in her voice. 

And now Dan very wisely put a damper upon 
the scheme evidently formulating in the boy’s 
brain, by adding, in a most emphatic manner, 
“An’ so they would, — an’, mayhap, swear ye’d 


io8 


BETTY PEACH. 


been a smuggler, an’ so shoot ye down, else hang 
ye at the yard arm, afore ever ye saw Boston.” 

These words made Billy tremble, and his 
block of wood fell with a clatter down on the 
rocks at his feet. As he stooped to pick it up, 
he said, in a scared whimper, “ I’ll not go, Dan, 
— I’ll not go near ’em.” 

“ See to it an’ ye don’t,” was the sententious 
reply ; and there the matter dropped, as the 
sound of footfalls coming over the rocks caused 
them all to turn around. Meg was approaching, 
with Ben close behind her, he having just re- 
turned from the village ; and what he had to 
report was to this effect : 

Very few of the smugglers had been captured, 
— only two in fact, unless the Squire, Peter 
Trower and Adam Powers had been taken ; for 
none had seen them or could tell aught of their 
probable whereabouts. 

As Ben told of this, a ‘knowing glance passed 
between him and Dan Marr, and the latter said, 
nodding his head significantly, “Ye an’ I know, 
belike, where they be in hiding ; I wot they be 
safe enoug’. The old Squire had a lot of pluck,, 
— an’ Adam’s a devil. They’d make such stir, 
an’ they be took, as would let folk know well 
where they would be.” 


BETTY PEACH. 


I09 

Here Meg asked if all the soldiers were gone ; 
and her husband said that so far as was known, 
all were on shipboard, except perhaps Captain 
Rathborn, his man, Larry, and the Captain’s 
lady. He said there was much wondering about 
the Captain himself, as he’d not been seen to go 
off with his soldiers, and a small boat he often used 
was still lying by the wharf steps. It was known 
that his man Larry was at the Harris house, in 
charge of a servant, as he’d been on a protracted 
debauch ; and Mrs. Robey had reported the Cap- 
tain’s lady as being locked in her room at the 
Pine Tree. She’d been ill and sleepless all the 
first part of the night before, — so the landlady 
said — for, after the soldiers set out for Squire 
Peach’s house, the Captain, who had for some 
reason not accompanied them, came down to the 
tap-room and sent a messenger to the apothecary’s 
for a sleeping potion, saying that his lady was 
ill, and unable to get rest. And then very early 
in the morning he had come down and told the 
landlord and his wife to see that she was not dis- 
turbed, as she was asleep. And he had taken 
the precaution to lock her door, and carry off the 
key in his pocket, saying she must rest until his 
return. 


no 


BETTY PEACH. 


This was at an early hour. He had not come 
back, and none could say where he was ; and 
although Mrs. Robey had been to the door 
to listen and peep through the keyhole, she 
could see and hear nothing to indicate that the 
lady was not still asleep. She, by the way, — the 
landlady — had seen Adam Powers go up to the 
Captain’s apartments (he had two adjoining 
rooms ) with him when the messenger returned 
with the sleeping draught ; but she could not say 
when he came down, for, being greatly worn out 
with the doings of the day and night, she had 
meantime gone off to seek repose in her own 
room, whither her husband had preceded her a 
short time before. 

When Ben had finished his story, there was 
silence for a little time ; and then Betty voiced 
the thoughts of all, as she said in a horrified 
tone, — “ Oh, Dan, — d’ye think any harm have 
befallen the poor woman? He looked on her 
with such wicked hate, yestreen ; an’ but for 
Mistress Robey, I think he^would have struck 
her.” 

Dan muttered a wicked word ; but whatever 
was to follow was cut short by Ben, who said to 
his wife, — “ Meg, my woman, I’ll go back to Pine 


BETTY PEACH. 


Ill 


Tree the afternoon ; belike somewhat ’ll be stir- 
ring by then, an’ the boys have work cut out 
to do.” 

“Ye’ll never meddle with the redcoats, an they 
stay by the ships, an’ let ye ’lone,” Meg replied, 
very sharply. 

“ We’ve no stomach for fight,” he answered, 
as he arose to go, — “ an’ the Britishers haven’t ; 
let ’em stay where they be, else go out the har- 
bor.” 

As soon as he had gone, Betty turned to Dan 
Marr, and asked, with much anxiety, “ Will they 
go off, d’ye think, Dan?” 

“ Belike,” was the reply ; “ they but came 
down to make a bluster, I take it ; an’ Captain 
Rathborn knows enoug’ to think with me, the 
sooner all get from here, less likely they be to 
learn things o’ him that be well his King an’ 
enemies don’t come to know.” 

Soon after this, they took their way back to 
the lighthouse, for it was now time for Meg, with 
Cata’s willing assistance, to prepare the noon- 
tide meal. Ben was already at the window, with 
the glass levelled at the two distant ships that 
lay, motionless, black hulks on the glassy sea. 

“ There be little breeze, to be sure,” he mut- 


1 12 


BETTY PEACH. 


tered, — “ but ’tis ’nough to start with ; an’ they 
be goin’, why don’t they start? There’ll be less 
wind, an’ the day wears on.” 

Dan had now come up beside him. “ Can ye 
make out what they be doing ? ” he asked. 

“Yes, they look to be exercising their legs, 
measuring the decks, fore an’ aft,” Ben drawled 
out, handing the glass to the young man. 

“They be keeping sharp lookout, I should 
say,” Dan remarked, his eye glued to the glass. 
Then he laid it down and turned to the other 
man, as he asked, “ Whatever be they waiting 
for, d’ye think, Ben ? It must be ’tis the Cap- 
tain. Wherever can he be, an’ what doing, all 
this time? I know — an’ I’d like to have a 
whack at him, afore he gets away from land,” 
and his face took an ugly look. 

“ Dan, — Dan, — don’t ye meddle with him, ’’Bet- 
ty exclaimed, in a terrified voice. She had just 
come in from the other room, and over-heard 
him. 

At the sight of her, the scowl gave place to a 
smile, — but he only said, “Ne’er mind, sweet- 
heart ; don’t ye worry your little head o’er it.” 
And this assurance, ambiguous as it was, seemed 
to quiet her. 


BETTY PEACH. 


n 3 

It was well along in the afternoon when Ben 
started to make his second trip to the village. 
And this time, Dan Marr persisted in accom- 
panying him, — he having at length obtained Bet- 
ty’s consent, albeit it was given with much se- 
cret misgiving. But the girl took a stray bit of 
comfort in the fact that the two men took Billy 
with them ; for she felt that cautious old Ben 
would not have permitted the lad to go, if he an- 
ticipated any trouble. 

The ships still lay with furled sails, — the rest- 
lessly moving redcoats showing here and there 
on their decks like spots of flame. Bet- 
ty and Meg sat by the window and watched 
them for awhile through the glass, the elder 
woman being too greatly excited to touch the 
needle sticking in the work that lay huddled 
across her lap. They could single out particu- 
lar individuals on the ships’ decks, and made 
comments ( not always of a complementary na- 
ture ) on their personal appearance. 

“Oh, Meg,” the girl exclaimed, “ what a 
dreadful looking man that do be, — he with a red 
nose. Here, — look through the glass, an’ see 
him standing there by the mast ; he was just 
waving his arm to some one.” 


BETTY PEACH. 


114 


“ Ye-s, my poppet,” Meg responded, slowly, 
as she took the glass. And then her thin lips 
tightened ominously, as her shrewd gray eye 
gazed at the enemy. 

“ Dirty Britisher,” — she said, contemptuously, 
— u I wish my eyes might be bullets, to hit him ! 
His nose does be red enough, surely, to be 
sighted so far away. It looks more like currant 
jelly, than a nose, — an’ ’tis painted the color ’tis, 
I warrant, with the fine rum o’ some o’ the poor 
fellows he’s seekin’ to hang. An’ that, only to 
make boast o’ himself, afore King George’s 
throne, an he sets foot ’gain in his own cursed 
land.” 

The sun was westering, — its level slants of 
light fell redly across the land ; and the sea was 
already showing a blackening floor, yet the trio 
had not returned from the village. Meg had an- 
nounced very emphatically her determination to 
show no light in the old tower ; for, she said, 
“ Let ’em come into harbor this night ( an’ that 
be what they be lying off there, plotting ), an’ 
they’ll like run on the Sinking Rocks ledge, in 
the darkness, — an’ go down, — an’ so do no more 
harm to peaceable folks.” 

She was already busying herself with prepara- 


BETTY PEACH. 


”5 

tions for the evening meal, when Betty, tired of 
staying within doors, went out, and down to 
the strip of beach ; where, seating herself on a 
large smooth rock, she watched the darkening 
sea, and listened to the crying of the crickets 
in the long dry grasses about the headland. 

Presently, around the far away corner of one 
of the ledges, she saw an old woman com- 
ing slowly toward her. She seemed feeble, and 
much bowed over, her head and shoulders hud- 
dled from sight in the cloak-like garment she 
wore, — of the style of the time. 

Although somewhat surprised by so unusual a 
sight at this hour of the day as well as at this 
place, where strangers were seldom seen, the 
girl remained quiet, observing the woman’s ap- 
proach, wondering, meanwhile, who she was, and 
what seeking. 

The old woman drew near and nearer, her 
bent form and hooded garment entirely con- 
cealing her face, until she came close to where 
Betty sat, still silent, and watching her intently. 
The girl neither spoke nor stirred, until sudden- 
ly, — so suddenly she could never tell exactly how 
it was done, — the old woman had her in a strong, 
close grip, and her curly head and pretty face 


n6 


BETTY PEACH. 


were covered so quickly by some enfolding wrap- 
pings, that she could only struggle vainly, and 
cry out faintly with surprise ; this being turned 
to terror, as an intuitive dread and loathing told 
her who her assailant was likely to be. 

Whoever it was, — so fiercely close was she held 
that she could feel her captors heart-beats 
— as, in a moment, and without a word 
being spoken, she felt herself borne swiftly 
along in the other’s arms. She could hear 
hurried breathing, through all the wrap- 
pings enclosing her small head, as it lay 
helplessly on a broad, strong chest, — and could 
hear, as well, the hurried beat of the footfalls on 
the shingle. The tread was now firm and quick, 

— utterly unlike the feeble, uncertain steps that 
had approached her a while ago. 

Then she heard other steps coming to meet 
them, and a hoarse voice she recognized as that 
of Adam Powers’ asked, “ Got her ? ” 

At this, there came to her the full meaning of 
what it all meant ; and a new frenzy rushing 
upon her, put fresh strength into her slight body 
and limbs. She struggled violently in the 
strong arms that held her like an iron vise ; then, 
finding it impossible to free herself, she beat ‘ 


BETTY PEACH. 


II 7 

with her small hands fiercely against the broad 
breast upon which her head and shoulders were 
pillowed. 

“ Better use a rope, Captain,” she heard Adam 
say, but she could not hear the reply, as a strong 
hand was placed upon her head, pinioning it so 
closely that one of her ears was crushed into her 
wrappings, while the other was directly under- 
neath her captor’s palm, the pressure causing a 
sound as of the sea roaring in her poor, fright - 
ened brain. 

She felt that he who held her was pausing for 
breath, — and then he seemed to climb over some- 
thing, while still holding her as firmly as before. 
Then she knew he was seating himself, and she 
felt one of her ankles graze something that felt 
like the edge of a boat-seat. 

The next moment she was assured of this, for, 
the heavy hand lightening its pressure on her 
ear, she heard the grating keel of a boat pushing 
off ; and next came the sensation of gliding over 
the water, with the sound of oars working in the 
rowlocks. 

A numb despair seemed to come upon her, 
and she lay inert, — scarcely caring sufficiently to 
struggle any further. Indeed, she was well nigh 


n8 


BETTY PEACH. ' 


swooning, — not only from fright, but, as well, 
by reason of the stifling folds of the cloth wound 
about her head and face. 

Presently she felt some one’s mouth close to 
her ear, and recognized Captain Rathborn’s 
voice, as his breath struck burningly through 
the wrappings. 

“ Betty, — sweet little Betty,” it said. u Don’t 
be afraid, — no harm shall come to you.” 

Not the slightest movement betrayed that she 
had heard him, — and then Adam said, “ Belike 
the girl’s fainted, Captain.” He was rowing 
slowly and cautiously, as though striving to 
make as little noise as possible, and to avoid — 
should anyone be watching from the shore — 
doing aught to arouse suspicion. 

He had no sooner spoken, than Betty felt the 
wrappings being hastily removed, and a rush of 
sweet fresh air came to her, — and opening her 
eyes, she met the anxious gaze of Rathborn, his 
detested face bent down over her own, and his 
shoulder and breast pillowing her unwilling 
head, as she half sat, half reclined, against 
him. 

She uttered no word, but struggled to sit erect ; 
and this, at the moment, he made no attempt to 


BETTY PEACH. 


II 9 

prevent. Then she looked about, and her first 
rapid glance told her they were far from shore, 
and still farther away from the Britsh ships ; 
and it seemed as though Adam was pulling 
toward the far away, lonely point of land known 
as the Chasm. The man was working more 
briskly with his oars, while now and again throw- 
ing furtive glances over his shoulder, and toward 
the distant shore ; and he growled out that the 
Captain had better make the girl lie down, or 
else keep her head and face covered. 

u There does be,” he said, “ a clean sweep 
for a glass from the lighthouse, full at us, ’till 
we round the point yonder ; an’ old Ben has one 
that does be the devil’s own eyes for seeing.” 

As he said this, Betty tried to gain her feet, 
with the hope of showing herself more distinctly, 
should there be such a happy chance as that sug- 
gested by his words. But Rathborn, as though 
divining her motive, clutched her fiercely, and 
holding her down in the bottom of the boat, 
wrapped her head in the concealing mufilings. 

At this rudeness, the poor girl broke down 
utterly, and began to sob, paying no heed to the 
Captain’s would-be soothing remonstrances ; 
while Adam, in no wise affected by her 


120 


BETTY PEACH. 


tears, rowed still more rapidly, his stolid face re- 
garding her much as he might have done the 
rocks along shore. 


CHAPTER VII. 


Had Betty but known the range of vision that 
had taken in the sight of her distressed face and 
tumbled curly head, she would not have wept so 
bitterly. 

Dan Marr, returning to the lighthouse with 
Ben, had looked about for her ; and then, his 
wonder at her non-appearance having turned to 
alarm for her safety, some instinctive prompting 
led him to take the glass and scan the enemy’s 
ships, as well as the stretch of sea and harbor 
which he could cover from the headland. And it 
was not long before the moving speck of the 
boat on the wide waste of waters, already getting 
dusk with the twilight, attracted his attention, 
causing him to steady the glass for a better look. 

The female form in the bow, huddled in dark 
wrappings, first caught his eye. It seemed to be 
bending over something like a dark bundle, lying 
at its feet ; and then a sudden movement of this 


122 


BETTY PEACH. 


bundle betokened it to be a human being. The 
next moment he was startled to see a glimpse of 
pink drapery, showing vividly, like a wild rose, 
in the darkness about it. 

The thought that this was like Betty’s gown, 
— the one in which he had last seen her, — came to 
him like a blow, and the glass almost fell from 
his hand. But, quickly adjusting it, while his 
heart beat madly, he looked once more ; and 
this time he saw the curly head he loved so well, 
and for one brief second Betty’s own sweet face 
was before his eyes, and bearing an unmistakable 
look of terror. 

Such a fierce ejaculation burst from his lips as 
startled Billy, who was leaning on the window- 
ledge beside him, and lame ’Bijah and old Cata, 
who sat either side of the fireplace. It caused 
Meg, who was busy about the room, secretly 
alarmed and worrying over her pet’s absence — 
to ask anxiously what was the matter. 

He made no reply, but kept his hungry, venge- 
ful eyes on the disk that shut in the patch of 
water, with the boat and its precious freight. 
And then, sweeping his glance along the boat, 
he, for the first time, saw Adam Powers’ evil 
face ; and another oath escaped him. 


BETTY PEACH. 


123 


With a mind well trained to danger, and haz- 
ardous enterprises, quickened now as it was by 
love, the whole state of affairs was clear to his 
comprehension. He saw that Adam was pulling 
for the Chasm, and that he seemed to be avoid- 
ing the ships, as well as the shore. And he 
knew, as though he saw it, whose scarlet coat 
was hidden under those dark, disguising folds of 
the seeming female form in the bow of the boat. 

When he and Ben had reached the Pine Tree, 
at an early hour in the afternoon, they found it 
filled with a crowd of their fellows. There was 
beginning much fierce talk of vengeance and re- 
taliation upon the redcoats, One of the arrested 
smugglers had effected his escape, — the other 
had been hanged down by the wharf, just be- 
fore the enemy went aboard their ships. Peter 
Trower, Adam and the Squire, were the only 
missing ones ; and where these were, no one 
could say. 

When Dan had related the story of his recent 
abduction, the anger of the crowd grew apace, — 
for he was a general favorite ; and had the miss- 
ing trio fallen into his comrades’ hands, just 
then, they would have fared as badly as any red- 
coat. 


124 


BETTY PEACH. 


In the midst of all the hub-bub, Mistress Robey 
came to Dan Marr with the information that 
Nancy Harris was waiting to speak with him in 
the little parlor, back of the taproom. 

Nancy’s bright color was somewhat paled, and 
her eyes showed traces of weeping, but her attire 
was as carefully coquettish as usual ; but there 
was no coquetry in the honestly anxious gaze 
she bent on Dan Marr as he came toward her. 

“ Oh, Dan,” she cried, — “ I did’nt know where 
ye were, or if safe, ’till the nigger boy came an’ 
told me he’d seen ye come from the lighthouse 
with Ben. Betty promised to tell me ’bout ye, 
— an’ she’s ne’er been near me, — ne’er sent me a 
word ! I was up at Squire’s this morning. I’d 
not believe that they told o’ the place being 
burned ; an’ no one knows where any o’ the old 
man’s folks be. Whatever’s befallen Betty, d’ye 
think, Dan?” 

“ She’s safe enoug’, — the little maid,” answered 
cautious Dan, very coolly ; for albeit he had no 
inkling of Nancy’s recent treachery (thanks to 
Betty’s staunch loyalty to her promise ), he felt 
it advisable to be wary, until the English Cap- 
tain was known to be out of the place. 

“ Where be she, — d’ye know where ? ” the 


BETTY PEACH. 


125 

girl demanded again, the same jealousy sound- 
ing in her tone as when, only the day before, she 
had asked the same question of Betty, regarding 
Dan Marr’s whereabouts. 

“ I say the little maid be safe, an’ that’ll have 
to do for ye now,” he replied with decision. 

“Why ? ” There was now a touch of acerbity 
in the girl’s tone. 

“Because, Dan said, quite slowly, “ I’ll see to 

it an’ the d d English Captain brings no more 

harm to her.” 

“ Whatever has Captain Rathborn to do with 
it, — an’ I’m thinking ’tis him ye mean ? ” Nancy 
asked, in genuine amazement. 

At this, all of Dan’s smouldering rage burst 
out, as he replied, “He’s more 1 to do with it ’ 
than he can, an’ live, an’ he ’bides long here- 
about. He plotted to carry her off with him, 
whether she would or no.” 

“ That’s a lie ! ” the girl cried, her face livid 
with anger. 

“ ’Tis true,” Dan reiterated, keeping his tem- 
per, — “an’ what be worse, her own old scally- 
wag o’ a grandsire was beholden to the scheme, 
an’ favored it,” 

Nancy gasped, and started back as though 


126 


BETTY PEACH. 


he had offered to strike her. A flood of light 
suddenly illuminating certain .acts and words of 
her pretended admirer, she grasped the indis- 
putable fact of how completely she had per- 
mitted him to make a tool of her too easy 
vanity and self-complacence, — thus leading her 
to do that which had Dan Marr but known, 
he had scercely stood and talked to her in so am- 
icable a fashion. 

Without a word, she turned quickly about, 
and left the room, and house ; and Dan, wonder- 
ing at her sudden change of manner, returned to 
the taproom, and his excited companions. 

They were now speaking of the sleeping lady 
up-stairs, and marvelling that she had as yet not 
been seen or heard from. 

“ The Captain said she was not to be distrubed 
’till he came back,” Robey said to Dan Marr, as 
the two stood a little apart from the others, 
whose loud talking made low speech inaudible. 
“An’ here it be thus late, an’ he not back yet. 
What be more, — Nancy Harris just told my mis- 
tress a boy brought word to his man Larry ( that 
was up at her place, ye wot ) some two hours 
agone, he was to go out an’ get aboard ship.” 

“ Mayhap something foul be befallen the 


BETTY PEACH. 


127 


lady,” Dan suggested, after a moment’s thought. 

The landlord glanced over his shoulder appre- 
hensively, — but none of the others seemed to be 
paying any attention ; then he drew near, 
and lowered his voice still more, as he said, 
“Just what my mistress be sayin’, all along. 
What d’ye think o’ forcin’ the door, lad ? ” 

“I say do it,” Dan replied emphatically ; 
“ break down the door, an’ it be necessary. Try 
an’ get word from her first ; an’ if there be none, 
— break down the door an’ send Mistress Robey 
to her.” 

This was decided upon, — and the landlord and 
his wife proceeded at once to the rooms above. 
Dan Marr, nothing loth, accepted their urgent 
invitation to accompany them, — first beckoning 
Ben out of the crowd, and bidding him have an 
eye on Billy, who was listening eagerly to the 
men’s talk. 

After repeated calls had failed to elicit any re- 
sponse from the supposed occupant of the room, 
it was Dan Marr who, taking the immense brass 
knob in the firmest grip his strong brown hands 
knew, and using his knee as a persuasive force, 
threw all his strength into the forcing of the 
clumsy lock. The landlord, aiding with his 


128 


BETTY PEACH. 


broad back and powerful shoulders, made an 
efficient battering ram, — not to be withstood ; 
and, in a few seconds, the crashing and splinter- 
ing of wood, and twisting of brass, announced the 
complete success of the undertaking. 

Mistress Robey stood by, watching them, and 
waiting the denouement with a frightened face. 
She shrank back when her husband, pushing the 
door ajar, bade her go within and report as to 
how she might find matters. 

“ Go in, — go in, woman,” he urged ; u there’s 
naught for ye to fear o’ bodily harm. Dan an > 
ine’ll stop here ’till ye come back, or call, an’ ye 
need us.” And thus encouraged, she entered 
the room. 

Almost instantly they heard her calling to 
them from the inner apartment, her voice sound- 
ing full of alarm and consternation. The two 
men followed the sound, and found her standing 
in the middle of the floor, her figure rigid with 
astonishment, and dismay written on every fea- 
ture. 

The room was empty of other occupants than 
themselves. The dishevelled bed showed that it 
had been occupied, but the lady was not to be seen. 
Some of her clothing lay about, and on the little 


BETTY PEACH. 


129 


stand, by the bed, was the small phial which had 
held the sleeping potion sent for the night be- 
fore ; it was empty, and a small glass lay over- 
turned beside it. 

On the dressing case were her various toilet 
articles, — all scattered about, and her bonnet was 
on the roomy old settle standing near the fire- 
place ; but the heavy cloak she wore when going 
out-of-doors was missing. 

“ D’ye think he’s murdered her?” the fright- 
ened woman asked her husband ; u he looked at 
her fierce enoug’ to do it, an’ she came on him 
talkin’ with Betty Peach an’ Nancy in the road, 
yestre’en, as I told ye. An’ though never a 
word was passed all the way back, there was 
fierce ones up here, after, — though I caught none 
o’ the meaning. She had her supper up here, 
an’ he would bring it himself ; so I ne’er laid 
eyes on her an’ we came from the walk.” 

While she was speaking, she continued to peer 
about the room, stooping even to look half fear- 
fully, as though dreading what she might see, 
under the bed. And Robey stared stupidly, as 
with gaping mouth and wide-opened eyes he 
followed his wife’s movements, while he rubbed 
his grizzled head in a dazed fashion. 


1 3° 


BETTY PEACH. 


Dan stood for a few moments with scowling 
brows, as though deep in thought ; then he 
asked, “ Did ye think to hunt the Pigeons, if the 
Captain be stored away there? ” 

The landlord admitted that he had not thought 
of doing such a thing ; and now began to look a 
little more as if he was getting something like 
an idea into his head. 

Dan continued, in a speculative mood, as he 
scowled at the floor, “ There’s the trap at end o’ 
this hall, that leads down there ; it be the only 
way the lady could be carried from this room, 
an’ nobody see. The Pigeons be the hiding 
place fewest be likely to know ; an’ mayhap he 
stowed her there, — or her body, an’ he be villain 
enoug’ to — ” 

Mistress Robey’s cry of dismay cut the sen- 
tence short. “ Lawks, — lawks !” she exclaimed ; 
“ don’t ye think such a fearsome thing-, Dan 
Marr.” 

“ ’Twas ye first spoke o’ the like matter,” he 
reminded her ; and then went on in a musing 
tone, — “ There be no saying what the redcoats 
may come to know o’ the doings o’ this fine Cap- 
tain. He’d find it troublesome, as more than 
one suspects, an’ as some know, to tell how well 


BETTY PEACH. 


x 3* 

he be acquainted with some o’ the smugglers he 
be setting ’em on to hunt down. An’ he sent 
Larry to the ships, belike he’ll go back that way 
himself ; an’ the meaning o’ that’ll be, — his red- 
coats haven’t found him out. But some o’ the 
cargo in the Pigeons be his own ; an’ I take it 
he be too fond o’ good rum, at a cheap price, to 
be willing to go an’ leave it behind him. Adam 
Powers be naught but the Captain’s tool, as well 
as Squire’s ; an’ belike he’s missing because o’ 
looking to the running o’ that very cargo, — an’ 
Peter Trower with him.” 

“ But whatever did he have need to get rid o’ 
the lady for ? ” Robey asked, rather irrelevantly. 

u I can make good guess o’ it,” Dan exclaimed, 
in a sudden burst of rage, and seeming to wake 
from his musing mood. “I’ll tell ye why, Robey. 
’Tis that the scoundrel means harm to as hon- 
est an’ sweet a little maid as breathes,” — and he 
clenched his teeth, and swung his fists in a way 
that threw as clear a flood of light upon the 
state of things for shrewd Mistress Robey’s com- 
prehension, as though he had given her the most 
complete setting forth of the events which had 
been transpiring about her. 

And here the good woman ventured to take 


132 


BETTY PEACH. 


part in the conversation, by urging that the 
missing lady be searched for at once. “An’ she 
be in the Pigeons, mayhaps, as ye said, Dan 
Marr, why not ye go with Robey this minute, 
to search the place ? ” 

Her advice was acted upon at once, and the 
men, without going down stairs, took the secret 
way through the trap door at the end of the up- 
per hall, — leaving Mistress Robey to watch for 
their return by the same route. 

Half an hour later, while she was presiding in 
the taproom, and keeping, meantime, a sharp 
lookout upon the few maids about the house, to 
see that nothing might take them upstairs, she 
saw her husband among the men ; and present- 
ly he came over to her, and, as he resumed his 
post at the counter, he told her, in a low tone, to 
go again upstairs. 

This she lost no time in doing, — and to her 
great relief she found the Captain’s lady reclin- 
ing on the settle, alive, and apparently well, al- 
though her face was very pale. Dan Marr was 
standing with his back toward her, looking out 
of the window. 

He turned around as the landlady closed the 
door after her, and she saw that his handsome 
face wore an expression far from pleasant. 


BETTY PEACH. 


x 33 


“ Dearie me ! — heart alive ! ” she exclaimed, — 
“how frightened we’ve all been o’er ye, to be 
sure,” and she bustled toward the settle. 

The lady covered her face with her slim, 
white hands, but was silent ; and Dan, leaving 
the window, now walked forward. 

“ We found her where we thought,” he said ; 
“ she was bound fast hand an’ foot ; an’ she nev- 
er knew where she was, or how she came there.” 
Then, as he went toward the door, “ye better 
not talk to her now, Mistress Robey, but first get 
some ’at for the poor soul to eat an’ drink,” — 
and he lingered on the threshold, as though wait- 
ing for the landlady to join him, — which she 
did in a moment, after spreading a wrap over 
the poor lady, while she murmured words of 
sympathy and condolence into her unlistening 
ear. 

As soon as they were outside, Dan gave her, 
in a few words, all the particulars of the search 
and rescue. The lady had evidently been 
drugged, and, while unconscious, had been car- 
ried by her husband and Adam, down the secret 
way to the Pigeons ; and there she was left, only 
waking late in the day to find herself a helpless- 
ly bound prisoner, in an unknown place. 


I 34 


BETTY PEACH. 


Adam had doubtless gone out through the sea- 
ward way of the caverns ; and the Captain, re- 
turning the way he had gone, came down stairs 
in the early morning, as the landlady had told. 
Both men were probably well away by this time, 
for Dan and Robey had noted that some of the 
kegs and other merchandise were missing from 
the Pigeons. 

The lady had told them that her brother was 
an officer on one of the ships. She desired to 
get word to him of her whereabouts, and of her 
husband’s conduct ; but this, as matters were at 
present, was not possible. Meanwhile, she was 
safer in Boston, — and she had acquiesced in 
Dan’s suggestion that she start that very night 
by the coach in which her husband had come 
down, — this being still in the stables of the Pine 
Tree, awaiting his orders. 

And it should be here understood that Captain 
Rathborn had been divided in his mind as to 
whether he should send word to his soldiers to 
go back that same night without him, and by 
the way they had come, and so risk carrying 
Betty off himself in his coach ; or to trust Adam 
Powers and Peter Trower with the task of bring- 
ing her to Boston in their sailboat, together with 


BETTY PEACH. 


135 


his share of the smuggled goods, which they 
were to land at a certain place in the town known 
only to Adam and the Captain himself. The 
latter course was the one he finally decided to 
adopt, — deeming it wiser not to risk trusting 
himself again among his quondam associates. 

Ben had perferred to remain at the Pine Tree ; 
and so Dan, after assuring himself there was 
nothing more he could do for the Captain’s poor 
wife, returned with Billy to the lighthouse, — to 
find, as we have seen, that Betty was missing. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


The night came dark and still, with only a 
light wind from the southwest. Overhead, the 
heavy clouds rolled as though driven before a 
strong gale, opening now and then to disclose 
the sky, in which the stars twinkled but faintly ; 
and at such times, the dim light, falling over the 
roads and fields, revealed a dark body of men 
marching rapidly but cautiously, in the direction 
of the Chasm. And then, the next moment, 
lumbering masses of vapor were carried forward, 
blotting out the clear tract of sky, and blurring 
all objects with an enveloping shadow. 

Ben was the leader of the men ; and out on 
the water was a boat-load of some twenty more 
smugglers and villagers, with Dan Marr at their 
head, pursuing the same general direction as 
their companions on land. None of them knew 
whether it was only their former mates, Adam 
Powers and Peter Trower, upon whom they were 


BETTY PEACH. 


*37 


to serve vengeance, or whether they would be 
called upon to measure strength with the red- 
coats, as well ; and little they cared, — for every 
man of them was filled with indignation and 
fury. 

Not a sound was heard save their own foot- 
falls, — not a soul did they meet or pass on their 
way ; and every man knew the path too well to 
hesitate in his movements, albeit the light was 
so uncertain. 

The path they were pursuing swept around 
the base of the great mass of granite known as 
the Chasm, to a long stretch of sandy beach 
skirting the seaward front of the rock-pile, which 
was indented with one great fissure, a few feet 
above the base ; and in this were many cavern- 
like openings, and some caves, as the smugglers 
well knew. 

The uncertainty as to whether Betty would be 
concealed in one of these caves, or on board the 
“ Rambler ” ( where he felt sure Adam had 
stored Captain Rathborn’s smuggled goods ), had 
led Dan to divide his men ; and as he had last 
seen the girl in the boat, he decided to go him- 
self with the larger body of men, by way of the 
water. 


BETTY PEACH. 


138 

And now, as they neared the Chasm, he dreaded 
lest the “ Rambler ” had put out to sea ; and the 
first sensation of anything in the nature of con- 
solation he had felt since looking through Ben’s 
glass, came to him, as, peering ahead in the dim 
light, he saw the clumsy hulk of Adam’s boat, 
her spars showing fitfully in the shadow, like 
lines of India ink drawn sharply against the 
night sky. 

They had approached quite close to her, when 
the report of a pistol rang out startlingly loud in 
the deathlike silence. 

“ Took out, lads, — ’tis a signal,” Dan cried ; 
“luff, — luff, I say; her sails do be going up, — 
head her off, — quick ! ” And now there was no 
more silence aboard the “ East wind,” — but shouts 
and threats, interlarded with oaths, filled the air ; 
but on the other boat all was still. 

“ That was Peter Trower’s barker that sung 
out,” one of Dan’s men said. 

“ Watching to give warning, the scoundrel,” 
another of them muttered. 

“ Mind ye,” — and Dan Marr’s voice was heard 
above all the tumult, “ Mind ye, men, — ’tis no 
matter what may befall the scoundrel Adam, or 
his redcoat friends. But no harm be to come 


BETTY PEACH. 


I 39 


to Squire Peach; an’, (unless he bring it on 
himself ) there be no need to harm Peter Trower. 
He’s far more fool than knave, an’ what’s more, 
he saved my life once ; an’ I should feel sorry an’ 
I be the one to take from him what he gave 
me.” 

There was some quiet grumbling at this, — 
but there was no time for open argument ; for 
now the “Rambler” was moving slowly and 
stealthily from her moorings, her sails not yet 
catching the wind. She had been waiting for 
the breeze to freshen, as the tide was setting in 
very strongly ; otherwise Adam might have es- 
caped them by starting at an earlier hour. 

Slowly, — very slowly, — moved the pursued, 
and more swiftly and surely the pursuer bore 
down on her, until the “ Eastwind ” was al- 
most directly across the bow of the other boat. 
Then a grappling iron was thrown ; but it fell 
short, and dropped, with a loud splash, into the 
water. 

This mishap was greeted with a jeering laugh 
from the “ Rambler ” — and all recognized Adam 
Power’s voice. 

“Ye concentrated, compounded brimstone 
limb o’ old Nick,” a lusty voice shouted from 


140 


BETTY PEACH. 


the “ Eastwind,” — “ Ye traitor an’ scoundrel, 
Adam Powers — ye’ve got to give in, for we’ve 
caught ye, sure ! ” 

The only response was a volley of impreca- 
tions ; and by this time another grappling hook 
was thrown with surer aim, and the two boats 
were fast being drawn together by strong and 
eager arms. 

A few moments more, and there lay but a little 
space between them ; and then, with a wild rush, 
the dark figures took possession of the “ Ram- 
bler’s ” low deck. 

Peter Trower was the first to stand before 
them ; but he remained standing only for a 
moment. Then he sank to his knees, as he 
screamed piteously, “ Don’t ye shoot, — don’t ye 
kill me ! Pll not fight, — an’ it be Betty Peach, 
ye’re after, she be in the cabin below. Don’t 
ye — ” 

“ Sneaking coward ! ” The words came in a 
roar from Adam Powers, who had sprung up be- 
hind him from somewhere in the darkness ; and 
the next instant there was a flash from his pis- 
tol, aimed at the kneeling Peter, and so his own 
whereabouts became known to the watchful eyes 
of his enemies. 


BETTY PEACH. 


141 

Several shots pierced the darkness, — and then 
all was again silent. 

The rest is soon told. The wounded Peter, 
and the dead Adam, were the only men found 
aboard, and Trower could tell nothing of Squire 
Peach. 

Dan, hastening to the cabin, found it fast 
locked. It took him only a moment to break 
down this, the second door he had destroyed 
that day, — and his sweetheart was in his arms, 
weeping bitterly, as she buried her curly head in 
the folds of his rough coat. 

For a moment her tears did more to unman 
him than had anything else since he last beheld 
her ; and he was well nigh sobbing himself, as 
he held her close up against his breast. 

“ Nay — nay, my little maid,” he whispered, 
brokenly, as he covered her face and hair with 
kisses, — “ ’tis all well for ye, now ; well an’ safe, 
— an’ all dangers be past.” But she made no 
reply, — only clinging still closer to him, and 
sobbing all the more. 

Then, after a bit, she became a little more 
like herself, and looking up into his face, ex- 
claimed, “ Oh, Dan, — Dan, — whate’er would have 
become o’ me, an’ it hadn’t been for ye ? ” 

4 


142 


BETTY PEACH. 


“ Never ye mind, sweetheart,” he answered, 
smiling down into her tear-dimmed eyes, — “ never 
ye mind that ; I know what will become o’ ye, 
Betty, now I’ve got ye once more. Ye’ll be Dan 
Marr’s little wife ; an’ then the devil himself can’t 
take ye from me. An’ now,” he added, his tone 
becoming lighter, as though trying to divert her 
thoughts, — “ ’tis quits atween us.” 

“ Whatever d’ye mean, Dan ? ” Her face was 
full of alarm, and her arms found their way 
about his neck. 

I mean this, — ’t was only last night that, brave 
little girl as ye be, ye came out to Gull Rock, 
an’ plucked me out o’ the clutches o’ these same 
devils that brought ye here to this cabin. An’ 
now I’ve served ye summat o’ the same turn, an’ 
so — ” but the rest of the sentence was lost in 
the kisses he showered on her upturned face. 

Her self-possession had now become somewhat 
restored, — and Dan asked, “ Wherever is that 

d d Captain — do ye know aught o’ him, 

sweetheart ? ” 

“ He be gone off with the ships, — I heard 
Adam say. But, Dan, — oh, — take me away from 
here, — take me quickly, — this very minute ! ” 
And her face bore a look of terror as she gazed 
about the wretched little cabin. 


BETTY PEACH. 


I 43 


“ That will I, an’ the true hearts that be with 
me, my own little maid. Come now, — cheer up, 
an’ give over tears for good. Ye be safer now 
than ever ye were ; an’ no one can harm ye, I 
say. Come up on deck with me, an’ show my 
mates that all is well with ye. ’Twill make ’em 
happy to know it, — an’ it be all we came for, — to 
take you back to Meg ; and we’d all, — every 
man jack o’ us, — cut every redcoat’s heart out o’ 
his dirty body, an’ we’d had ye to carry back.” 

There was a loud cheer from the men when 
Dan and Betty came on deck ; and this was 
echoed by others from their impatiently wait- 
ing and listening comrades on the shore, as they 
recognized the note of victory in the hearty 
sound coming across the water. 

The old Squire was never more seen by any 
of them. All that served as a clue to his proba- 
ble fate, was his sailboat, which had always been 
kept anchored just off the beach, below his 
house. This, after several days had passed, was 
picked up out at sea, by one of the fishing craft, 
— the mast broken, — the sails partially in the 
water, and everything about it betokening a 
wreck. 

The two ships left the harbor at some hour of 


144 


BETTY PEACH. 


the night, — probably as soon as the darkness fa- 
vored their departure, — else the redcoats would 
have been attracted by the shots and shouts from 
the shore by the Chasm. 

With the ships went Captain Rathborn. And 
it was well for the safety of that recreant officer 
that he was never again seen in the village. 
Those were rough, and, in a way, lawless times, 
— for it was then that fires were being kindled, 
to break out later, in the struggle for indepen- 
dence, — times when men’s hands were swift to 
carry out the impulses of their first thoughts, if 
these were stirred by vengeance against treachery 
and false dealing. 

Five and twenty years later, came the Revolu- 
tion ; and in the company of men who left the 
village ( now become a town ) to join the Conti- 
nental army, at Cambridge, marched two hand- 
some lads, who, while possessing the stalwart 
frame and broad shoulders of Dan Marr, had the 
great soft eyes, and the same curling rings of 
dark hair, that made so irresistably pretty the 
little head of that still small, but now dignified 
matron who once bore the name of Betty 
Peach. 









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